


Immortal Boyfriend

by WishaDream



Category: Original Work
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe, Coworkers - Freeform, Cute, Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Genderfluid, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Love Confessions, Mystery, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Original work - Freeform, Other, Pining, Romance, Series, Slow Burn, Soulmates, Supernatural - Freeform, Sweet, Torture, Vampires, origional work, vampire, working together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:47:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 27,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24809530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WishaDream/pseuds/WishaDream
Summary: Kyle is an ME at the local morgue. Everything is routine until the day that one of the bodies wakes up.
Relationships: Original Character & Original Character
Kudos: 3





	1. prologue

Detective Titus Goncalves thought he’d never get used to the smells of the morgue. And he was only down there for a few minutes a day. He couldn’t fathom how the coroners, who spent their whole days there, did not go insane from the odor.   
And that wasn’t the only thing to wrankle. There was also the cold.  
“Morning, Detective.”  
The unemotional voice only served to set him on edge more as he looked back to find the police stations head coroner staring at him. He smiled. Though unpleasant, the only good thing about the place was this stone faced beauty. At times he wondered if the only reason she worked in such a dark place was because it matched her soul. She had a set of moles on her neck which looked like bite marks from a vampire and if someone had told them they were actual vampire bites he wouldn’t have been surprised. She was just as beautiful and cold as the undead blood suckers.  
“Morning, Doctor. Is that a cold I hear coming on? Should you still be working today?”   
His question elicited a hint of annoyance from her as her brows crinkled ever so slightly, “No one is going to catch it.”  
She motioned to the stiffs lying around the room.  
“True.”  
“I’ve finished the examination.”  
He kept his smile as he let out a slow sigh, always quick to business with this one.  
“What’s your diagnosis?”  
He could tell she was not happy at his use of words as she stared at him, “I’ve determined,” she said the words slowly, as if reminding him of the correct terminology, “the cause of death is blood loss.”  
“And the cause.”  
Here she hesitated as she reached to the side to pick up the tablet. She held it out to him.  
“I can’t bring myself to say it.”  
He gave her a confused look before taking the pad and skimming over her assessment, “What? Is it that terrible?”  
“More like ridiculous. But you like these kinds of things, right?”  
He still didn’t know what she was talking about till his eyes came to rest on the information he wanted, “You can’t be serious.”  
“That’s what I said.”  
Her arms were folded when he looked at her. Not from the cold, she was never cold.   
She really did belong among the dead.   
He set the chart down on the table before having her reveal the wounds to him. When he was done looking them over he asked her, “Anything else you think I should see?”  
“Just this.”  
In a trey where the personal belongings were kept she picked up an ornate golden key. The key had a weight to it, being made entirely of gold with miniature cuts of various jewels set into sections of each layer of the keys’ design. He’d never seen anything like it.  
“The lab guys are baffled,” she told him, “As far as they can tell, it’s teeth aren’t made to open anything.”  
“You think it’s just some kind of decoration then.”  
She shrugged, “Or it opens something so old they wouldn’t know about it.”  
Detective Goncalves frowned as he looked at the newest victim then back at the key. Things were definitely getting strange. He just didn’t know yet how strange.


	2. Chapter 2

Dr. Kyle Janaskie pushed her bangs back from her eyes. She needed to get a trim but didn’t have time. Haircuts took place during personal time, and as head coroner for the Seattle police department, personal time was something she had in little supply. Using a paperclip to hold back her bangs she then put on her gloves.  
The morgue was empty at that hour, her assistant not yet arrived. She didn’t mind being alone in the room of the dead. Some people did, but she felt most comfortable among the dead. Not because she desired to be one of them but because they did not judge you.   
Above her in the police station she always felt judged.  
“She’s a little creepy. Pretty, but creepy.”  
Among the living she felt out of place. At times she felt like a phantom, inhabiting the plane of the living but having no part of it.   
Pushing aside such thoughts, she started her voice recording as she got to work on the newest body in her lab.  
“John Doe. Age: mid to late twenties. Ethnicity: Asian. Weight: 140 lbs. Height: 167 cm. The body was found in Discovery Park lying on a park bench. Body was cold upon examination with no signs of pulse or breath. After attempts to revive failed the body was sent here.”  
After making an inspection with her eyes and hands for external wounds she recorded, “No visible markings or signs of injury. There are residual scars on the arms.” She lifted the arm as she tried to determine the means of scarring, “Scarring resembles that of rope wounds. Marks are in customary areas of suicide. Reason behind the marks is inconclusive. No other markings or tattoos were found on the body. Will begin internal examination now.”  
Picking up the scalpel she bent over to begin the “Y” cut. The scalpel slid easy across the first line of the Y. Just as she was about to begin the next side the eyes of the body came open.  
She paused, staring into the eyes as they stayed open, unmoving. This had never happened to her before. She set aside the scalpel as she moved up to stare down into the eyes. As soon as she came into range the eyes shifted, gazing up at her.   
Most other people would have been startled by this. Others would have flinched or cried out in surprise. She did not do either.   
All the cops at the precinct theorized that nothing could phase Dr. Kyle Janaskie. And they would have been mostly right.   
Instead of being startled, she curiously gazed down at the pair of staring eyes.  
They blinked.   
She blinked.  
Then the body spoke.   
“Where am I?”  
“You are in the Seattle Police Department’s morgue.” She said it so casually one would think she was used to holding conversations with the recently deceased.  
The body blinked again as it started to turn its head to look around the room. “Oh. How did I get here?”  
“You were found unmoving on a bench in Discovery Park.”  
The body took a moment to process her words before a memory came to it, “Oh, yeah. I was in the park passing time and decided to take a nap. They thought I was dead?”  
“You had no pulse.”  
The body found this amusing as it started to sit up.   
She moved back to give him room.  
“I guess that makes sense. But why am I here?”  
“You had no ID and the initial assessment did not reveal the cause of death. I was starting the internal examination.”  
“Internal?” Looking down the body noticed the cut across its chest, “Oh, man. Do you know how long this is going to take to heal?” The body looked at her as if actually asking. But the living were not her expertise. Her field of knowledge completely lay in information on the dead.  
Sliding off the examination table, she heard the body’s bare feet slap against the cold tile floor. The body did not seemed fazed in the slightest that it was standing in front of her with not even the curtesy shroud to cover him.  
From her limited experience she was sure most living would be startled at their circumstances. Not just the fact that they were naked, but more at the fact they had been mistaken for dead and taken to the morgue where an autopsy had been initiated on them. But this body acted calm, as if this strange occurrence was nothing out of the norm for it.  
“Do you have my stuff?”  
The body looked at her and smiled. The smile was full and made the owner’s eyes crinkle at the edges. For a moment she found herself staring then she realized she’d been asked a question.  
“It is evidence,” she motioned to the trey where the body’s things were kept.  
“But I’m not dead. Doesn’t that mean that your investigation is over?”  
She ignored its question as she turned back to pick up an object, “We found this on you,” She held up a golden key with an intricate design and glinting jewels.  
The body reached for it, “Ah, yeah. That’s mine.” She pulled it away. “Why is it important?”  
“It was found on another body that was brought in.”  
“Did they turn out to be living too?”  
She stared for a moment, wondering if it was joking. The statement could be considered a joke, but from the body’s expression she could tell it was seriously curious.  
“No. They were dead. The key that was found with them was believed to belonged to the killer.”  
The smile completely faded from the body’s face when she said this, “How?” When she didn’t answer it questioned further, “How did they die?”  
“Exsanguination.”  
At this the body went deathly pale. “Oh.”


	3. Chapter 3

The two stared at each other, locked in a battle of wills. Finally the recently revived man regained his smile, a bashful one, as he hesitantly inquired, “What’s exs-whats-it? I don’t read a lot.”  
It was her turn to frown as she told the body, “It means they were completely drained of blood.”  
“Oh,” again he lost his smile as he bit his lower lip in thought, “That’s not good.”  
“No. It’s not. And as I said, a key like this was found on them. If you’re not dead, we have some questions.”  
He nodded, “I get it. But,” he lifted his hands in a boyish shrug, “I can’t help you.”  
“Is this not your key?”  
“No, it is. But I don’t know anything about any murder or lost keys. I can’t help you.”  
Kyle let out a slow exhale as she let her eyes close for a moment before opening them again, “We’ll be the ones to decide if or if you don’t know anything.”  
Keeping the key in her hand, she set down the trey of clothes.  
“I’ll go let the officer know you’re ready to talk.”

As a coroner Kyle was not a part of interrogations. Though she would have liked to hear what the recently revived body had to say she resumed her duties in the morgue.   
When she got a break she headed up to the police station where she found the officer on the case: Greg Henshaw.  
“Well?”  
He gave her a curious look, as if surprised to see her out of her “death cave,” as she knew the officer’s liked to call it. They didn’t know she knew, but she heard a lot more than she let on.  
“What did the body have to say?”  
Now he was confused as he gave her a strange look for a different reason, “What body?”  
“The one I sent up to you. The John Doe found in the park.”  
She did not know why but Henshaw laughed when he finally realized who she was talking about, “Oh, him. Yeah, there wasn’t anything to report. He is just a deep sleeper. We looked into his background, but there was nothing strange. We let him go.”  
The officer grew tense as Kyle fixed him with one of her stares, “Did you ask him about the key?”  
“He said it was just some antique he’d found in a shop and thought looked cool.”  
“Did he give you the address of the shop?”  
“Yeah. But it doesn’t seem like it’s going to lead anywhere.”  
“Did you at least send a uniform down to investigate?”  
The man let out a tired sigh, “Listen, Janaskie, this case is cold. I don’t know why you are getting worked up over it. No other bodies have been found since the last time. And no matter how much investigating was done the last time the origin of that weird key was never found.”  
Everything about what Henshaw had said made her want to clock him. But she kept herself cool as death, as she reminded him, “Someone died, officer. And this could have been a break in the case. Did they not teach you how evidence works at cop school?”  
He frowned, “I don’t like your tone, Doctor.”  
“And I don’t like your lack of gumption. I’ll see what Chief Iwuchukwu thinks about how you handled this.”  
She could hear the officer grumbling about, “stupid doctors, poking their noses where they don’t belong,” but ignored him as she headed away.  
Police chief Arin Iwuchukwu was on the phone when she entered his office. He held up his hand for her to wait as he finished up the conversation. When he was done he motioned to the seat in front of him.  
“Is there something you need to report?”  
She told him about the man found in the park, the key found on him, and the mishandling of the case by officer Henshaw. She conveyed all the information in even detached tones, that belied the intense rage that burned within her at the simple disregard of protocol exhibited by Henshaw.   
While Chief Arin frowned at the news, he did not seem upset by it, as he told her, “I’ll talk to Officer Henshaw, but I agree with his initial assessment.”  
If she had the ability to, the room would have dropped a degree, as her mouth tightened with his answer.  
“Is that all?”  
She wanted to say so much more, but she kept herself from doing so as she thanked him before leaving the room. It was apparent if any investigation was going to be made on the mystery behind the golden key it was going to have to be done by her. And the first place she was going to have to investigate was the John Doe who had come back to life.


	4. Chapter 4

The body’s name was Judah Paloyo. His address was nowhere near Discovery Park, but his place of work was located a few blocks from the discovery site.  
Not having any investigation skills outside of the morgue, Kyle decided she’d start in the place that seemed most practical: the park.  
The report listed the approximate location of the bench where the body had been discovered. It looked like any other bench and yielded nothing upon further inspection.  
Seeing no other reason to stick around she headed to the man’s apartment complex. That was where she ran into the body on its way out of the building. Seeing him clothed and moving about reminded her that he was no longer a body but one of the living. That reminder did not help. For her the living were the hardest ones to understand.  
“Oh.” On recognizing her the unaffected smile he’d worn in the morgue returned, as his eyes shone in the light of the outdoors, “You’re that doctor. Are you here to check up on me?”  
His hand reached to touch the area where she’d cut him.  
“No. I’m not that kind of doctor. I don’t do follow ups.”  
Her placid response evoked a laugh from him, “No, I guess you wouldn’t usually have the need. Hey, am I your first living stiff?”  
The way he bounced on the balls of his feet while he talked reminded her of an excitable puppy. Any moment she expected him to start chasing something as a way to release his nervous energy.  
“Yes.”  
“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever been anyone’s first. I wasn’t the first child. I wasn’t Cole’s first—,” his eyes darted to her face as if he’d just realized he was about to say something he shouldn’t, “So uh, what does bring you here?”  
“Your key. The officer who interviewed you said you’d picked it up at an antique store.”  
“Right.”  
“Can you show me the place?”  
He looked genuinely apologetic as he told her he was just on his way out, “But I can give you the address.”  
She accepted it then gave him her card, “If you think of anything related to the key call me.”  
“Like what?”  
“Like if you’ve ever seen another one.”  
The frown on his face looked strange, but maybe that was just because it looked so out of place with his bright personality. “Yeah, okay.”  
She headed from there to the shop. The place was filled to capacity with various furniture and other oddities. It didn’t seem safe in case of a fire.  
At the back she found an old lady who introduced herself as the owner when she asked.  
“I wanted to know if you remembered anything about this.”  
She held up her phone which displayed a picture of the key. The older woman took the phone as she squinted at the image.  
The key was solid gold, with inset gyms of various types, rubies, sapphires, emeralds. There were also little reflective surfaces which glinted in the light of the photo. Each jewel was set into a kind of rope pattern which curled over itself in an intricate pattern that zigzagged over itself. At times it seemed to have some purpose, as it formed a crown design at the top of the key. But under that it was a jumble. This all made up the bow of the key, which all sat atop a rounded shaft that had a collar and throating near the base where the key’s teeth jutted perpendicular to the body. The teeth of the key was just a square with various crisscross lines engraved into it. The strange design had baffled the lab techs who could not fathom what kind of lock it would open.  
After inspecting the image the shop owner fixed her with a curious look, “Why are you asking about this?”  
“It is involved in an investigation and we were led to believe that one might have been purchased here.”  
“Not that I can say. I sell a lot but I know most of my product and I don’t recognize this.”  
Kyle thanked the woman as she took the phone back.   
It seemed Judah Paloyo had been lying. What else had he been hiding? And how was it all connected to the first key?  
Though she had hoped things would move quickly it appeared her investigation was just getting started.


	5. Chapter 5

Judah Paloyo was employed at Buck E. Pizzas. From a booth in the corner she kept a close eye on him as he helped pass out tickets to party goers or showed them how best to throw a skee-ball. His smile was on full blast as he helped shorter kids reach the monkey bars, or joined a group of revelers in a game of silly string tag. He was just another of the kids as he leapt into the ball pit to retrieve a lost toy.   
By the end of the day his hair was sticking up at odd angles, but his face was glowing with joy as he said goodbye to the last of the customers.   
Kyle was about to leave herself when he turned back from his work cleaning a table to ask, “Are you spying on me?”  
She stopped halfway out the door, moving slowly as she turned back to face him. His smile showed no accusation but the spark in his made it look like he was only joking.  
“Or do you just like the pizza here?”  
She was not sure how to answer either question without lying. Instead of deciding she remained silent as she studied him.   
He was still hunched over the table, the sleeves of his shirt rolled up so that his forearms looked larger. She made note of how his looked especially broad in its current position, she would estimate about 38-39 inches. It’s expanse was emphasized by the shirt’s cloth, which stretched tightly across it so that his muscles underneath were highlighted.  
Her eyes returned to his face. He was watching her with a curious expression, his smile expectant as his eyebrows rose in question. That’s when she remembered she hadn’t answered him.  
“I’m spying on you.”  
She didn’t known how else to answer; people really weren’t her forte.   
For her honestly she received a hearty laugh from Judah. His eyes scrunched up even more than when he smiled as his whole body shook with a laugh full of life.   
The sound of it made the hollowness in Kyle’s chest seem larger. It was like the vibrations of the laugh were causing the edges of the chasm to break away as dislodged bits fell off into the void that was her soul.  
When he’d finished enjoying what he’d perceived as a joke he asked if she would wait for him.  
“Why?”  
“Because I like you.”  
His response was so innocent she found herself staring at him in stunned silence.   
The last time anyone had been that honest with her…She really could not understand the living. They were constantly living two lives, one which usually only came to light after they were gone. That was the life she saw while those left living had trouble accepting it, “But he wasn’t like that. He’d never lie to me.” But the living did lie. That was the only real difference between them and the dead.   
Once you were dead you had nothing left to tell but the truth.


	6. Chapter 6

Kyle did not understand why she stayed. In a nearby booth she waited as he finished cleaning. When he was done she followed him out, even going so far as to wait as he locked up.  
Sliding the keys into his pocket he turned back to face her, an excited smile bright on his face.  
“Now what?”  
The smile on his face could have blinded an already blind man as he spread his hands and declared, “Now we live.”  
His idea of living was taking her to one of the clubs along main street. People were already lined up in suits and extremely short and tight dresses.   
Neither of them was dressed for clubbing. He was still wearing his employee’s shirt and khakis. She was dressed in an old white v-neck T and jeans with her bangs still pinned back with a paperclip. As she remembered this she pull it out when he was looking away. She slid the metal clip into her pocket as he turned back.  
Seeing the way she was eyeing the crowd he assured her, “I know a guy.”  
Leading the way, he completely ignored the waiting crowd as he headed straight to the bouncer, “Hey, Mike, I’m just gonna head back.”  
She did not expect this to work but the large bouncer nodded as he opened the door for them. Judah motioned for her to follow as thye headed into the dimly lit building.  
The room was throbbing with bass as bodies swayed in time with the music. Judah ignored the dance floor as he led her all the way to the back of the club. Another bouncer guarded a VIP section. Another wave from Judah got them past that barrier as well.  
“Who are you?”  
He laughed at her question as if he didn’t take it seriously. The music in the backroom was reduced to a low thrum where low lights cast the room in a purple hue. Large bench seats lined the wall, with small black tables sitting in front of each. The tables each held a group of cups and liquors. And other than them, there was no one else there to enjoy the privacy.  
Taking advantage of this, Judah laid himself out on one of the bench seats. She remained standing as she watched him get comfortable, as he bounced on the cushion with his back, turned over for a moment to punch it, then leaned back. Tucking his arms behind his head, he turned his head as he noticed the space between them. His eyebrow rose. He reached down to pat the space beside him.  
“You’re not serious.”  
He smiled, turning his eyes back to stare up at the ceiling.   
Everything about him reminded her of a kid. But lying there with the lights gently rolling across his body she had trouble reconciling the two images. With his eyes closed and his face relaxed he resembled a full grown man. Even when he was bounding around his jaw line and broad chest reminded her of this fact. But when he opened his eyes a and looked at her again with a boyish grin she knew that underneath the man was a spirit of youth.  
His smile cocked to the side as he said, “This isn’t your scene, huh?”  
“I only stuck around because I want to talk.”  
He rocked back as his feet kicked the air, bringing him up to a seated position. Turning to face her, he crossed his legs in front of her before patting the spot beside him.  
“Then let’s talk.”  
Hesitating for a moment, she reminded herself why she was there. Keeping a distance between herself and him she sat down.   
The distance amused him as he laughed lightly.  
“Ask me anything.”  
The way he said it made it seem like he thought it was a game, but it was far from that with her.  
“Where did you really get that key? I went to the shop and the woman there didn’t recognize it.”  
“I did get it there. It was just a completely different venue back then.”  
“Do you remember the name of the owner then?”  
“He passed away a long time ago.”  
She touched her head as she felt her temper rising. “Were there any other keys there like yours?”  
“Yes.”  
“Do you remember how many?”  
“No. It was a long time ago.”  
He emphasized the word “long.” But for someone like him “long” was a relative term. Waiting five minutes for his hot pocket to cook was probably considered a long time.  
“Is there anything else you remember about it? Or the place you acquired it?”  
He was quiet as he let his eyes drift off to the side. She waited for him, even as the music continued to pulse around them.  
Finally he fixed his eyes on her as his face took on a serious expression unlike any one she’d seen him wear up till then, “Can I be honest with you?”  
“I wish you would be.”  
He paused again as he looked around the empty room as if to make sure they were completely alone. When his eyes returned to hers there was an intensity in his gaze that made her move back.  
“These keys,” he held up the key which looked eerie in the purple light, “they were given to a rare few a long time ago. And the current owners are some pretty powerful people.”  
“That doesn’t scare me. I’m not giving up on this.”  
He nodded as if he could see that in her eyes, “I should also warn you, that beside being powerful, these are also the most potentially dangerous people in the world.”  
She could sense that he was going to draw this out as she let out a tired sigh, “Just spill it already. Who are these people? Some kind of illuminati group?”  
“No. These guys are real. The owners of the keys…They’re vampires.”


	7. Chapter 7

The music outside the room was still throbbing, but in the VIP room everything had dimmed to silence as she stared at him.  
She waited for him to laugh. To see a grin light his face as he told her how funny she looked. But he didn’t laugh and his expression only became more serious when she frowned.  
“You don’t think I’m telling the truth.”  
“Why would I? That’s one of the most ridiculous things I’ve heard.”  
“Listen, there a lot of things in this world we don’t understand. And there are some things that remain hidden because they go to the trouble of staying in the shadows.”  
“And these shadow people carry around those keys?”  
He nodded.  
“And the reason you have the key?”  
He looked bashful as if it was embarrassing for her to ask such a thing, “Well, isn’t it obvious?”  
Kyle groaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose.  
“Didn’t you find it strange that I had no pulse or breath. No matter how deep someone is sleeping they can’t achieve that.”  
“Vampires aren’t real.”  
“That’s because they want you to think that.”  
Her tone was flat as she replies, “There are people out there who suck blood, avoid the sun, and turn into bats.”  
“Yes and no. Most of the things people know is just Hollywood. But the blood sucking is real.”  
“But I saw you outside in the sun today.”  
“We’re not allergic to the sun. If it’s really bright out the sun can hurt our eyes and we’ll usually wear shades, but that’s because our eyes are adapted to the night hours. Actually, the first sun glasses were designed by a vampire.”  
She let out a groan as she realized what all this meant. This was it, this was when she was going to end up on the examination table instead of beside it. She’d walked herself right into the hands of a psychopath and before the end of the night she wasn’t just going to understand the dead, she was going to be the dead. And not because he was going to turn her into a vampire. That was just preposterous.  
“If you are a vampire,” she didn’t know why she was arguing with him, but it was a good way to stall while she tried to find a way to escape, “Why are you so tan? Aren’t vampires pale and sickly?”  
“I’m Filipino. Like I said, sun doesn’t hurt us. The pale and sickly thing is just an old myth from long ago.”  
“Is it just another myth from that vampires were reported as being bloated and purple in skin tone with blood seeping from the mouth and nose.”  
His face grimaced at the image, “Oh, yeah. That would be a rancid vampire.”  
“A what?”  
“A long time ago vampires would go blood mad and start killing multiple victims to fulfill their insatiable desire for blood.”  
She couldn’t believe how detailed his excuses were. But when one believed their own lies it went without saying that they’d create enough lore to make it seem believable. No matter how farfetched.   
“And how does this blood lust come about?”  
“No one really knows. Some think it happens because the immortal has gone mad with the realization that everyone around them is going to die. Though they no longer have a fear of death, in order to fight it they go mad for blood, which is the only thing that can ensure they remain immortal. But there hasn’t been an incident in hundreds of years.”  
“And what is your story? How did you become a vampire?”  
“I’ll just give you the bullet points. Don’t want to bore you.”  
Kyle held back a roll of the eyes as she did not want to anger him. He had yet to show a temper, but psychopaths like this were always towing the line between out bursts of utter ecstasy and complete rage.   
“I was born in the late 1500s and joined a Spanish galleon when I was young. It was on that ship I had a brush with death,” his tone grows ominous as he says, “It was on a voyage across the seas to the new world that we were hit by a large storm. The wind was so bad we had to furl the sails. When I was working to do so a rope snaked around my arm and then the wind yanked the attached sail up into the sky taking me with it.” His eyes grow wide at the memory, “It felt like nothing I’d ever felt before, the feeling of completely weightlessness. And for a moment I lost my fear of the impending fall in the ecstasy of the moment,” his smile is soft before fading into a frown, “But then I fell, as my arm was dislocated from the sudden redirection. Lucky for me, two sailors were messing with a tarp at that moment and with it stretched out by the wind, the springiness of it broke my fall.”  
He pauses for a moment to rub the old wounds before continuing, “At our port in Mexico I was commissioned as a soldier. It was my job to guard the coast. I did that for a few years, battling pirates and scurvy, until the 1580s when I landed with Captain Pedro de Unamuno in California. I lived there for a while, then got land sick and joined the crew of the San Augustine. After they shipwrecked near Point Reyes I lost my desire to sail. While the others took a ship back home to the Philippines, I stayed in California where I met a mysterious man.”  
He grinned, as if expecting her to know what came next, “Cole Derringer, my sire, is of mixed Native and French heritage.”  
“You mean he’s the one who turned you into a vampire?”  
He nodded, “With him I traveled across the US, heading up to Alaska and across to Quebec. He introduced me to his people and had me join him in sweat lodge ceremony. It was unlike any religious service I’d ever attended.”  
He became lost in the memory, as he told her, “Cole Derringer has such a powerful presence. I remember when I first met him I thought to myself, “This is someone important.” And I was right. He always knows just what to say to get someone to do what he wants. And you never feel manipulated. When he’s done, you want to do what he’s asked. It even makes you happy to do it for him.”  
He looked a little embarrassed at losing track of his story as he continued on, “Finally we went down to Louisiana where I joined a settlement of Filipinos. I stayed there for a good long time, fighting with the Manilamen during the war of 1812. My sire then invited me back to Europe and I explored around there for a time. When I heard about the Civil War I came back and enlisted with a 100 Filipinos and Chinamen in fighting for the North. Then in 1901, because of my experience in sailing, I joined the US Navy.”  
Kyle shook her head, amazed at how detailed his psychosis was. She’d never been the creative type, but to see how adamantly someone could come to believe their own lies scared her. Was this what happened when people spent too much time in the worlds of the imagination?   
Judah looked like he was getting tired of his history as he summed up several years by saying, “I eventually retired from the navy, invented the yo-yo, joined a grape striker with my fellow migrant workers, then got left for dead in Vietnam.”  
She stopped him as she said, “You did not invent the yo-yo.”  
He nodded, “It’s true. I based it off a toy back in the Philippines, but it was new to the states. It was a pretty lucrative business and I did that until 1963 when I “died.” Left in Vietnam I spent time walking through Asian and Europe. Then I returned to America the 90s, settled for a time in Canada before I came down to Seattle where I’ve resided for a few years as Judah Paloyo.”  
She had heard enough. Rising to her feet she told him, “It’s getting late.”  
He stood as well as he moved to block her escape. It seemed he wasn’t going to make it easy.  
His face showed no animosity as he gently told her, “I know this is a lot to take in, but I feel I can trust you. I just don’t want you to get hurt. This key thing isn’t going to lead anywhere good.”  
She felt her throat tighten at the words, “I know that.”  
“Then you should let this go. That’s the only reason I told you, so you could see how serious this is.”  
She wanted to snort, to push him. To scream. But she remained impassive as she again tried to leave. He stepped in front of her, holding his hands out as a barrier.  
“You’re going to let this go, right?”  
Usually she could bare a lot of crap, like when Henshaw mislabeled evidence so that she had to figure out what went where. Or when Jeffrey forgot the rule about no food in the lab. But today her limit had been reached.   
Shifting her weight back, she then shifted forward as she brought her knee forward into Judah’s groin with the force of a skilled fighter. As Judah crumpled to the ground she told him the only thing running through her mind, “Like Hell.”  
Then she was gone.


	8. Chapter 8

Kyle couldn’t focus on what she was doing. She paused for the hundredth time in her autopsy.  
“Find something?”  
She came back from the space in her mind to find her assistant staring at her, “What?”  
“Did you find something on the liver?”  
She looked at the large organ resting in her hands. It was showing signs of cirrhosis, but nothing so severe it could be equated to foul play. She put it on the scale as she lost herself in memories of the previous day.  
Judah had looked serious as he’d told her his tale. He’d seemed very sincere. But wasn’t that because he actually believed the lie himself? Of all his victims, he was the most sorry. But it was a lie nonetheless and it put her no closer to finding the origin of the golden key.  
To think she’d gotten so close, only to have her life put in danger, and still she was only left with more questions.   
“Dr. J, you have a visitor.”  
Kyle left the remaining work to her assistant as she headed to her office. The visitor had his back to her as he leaned over to inspect a display case showing various skulls from around the world. Something about his back looked familiar but she was already at her seat when she bothered to look back and see Judah’s smiling face.  
“That was kind of mean what you pulled last night,” he sounded to have no ill will towards her for it, but sounded amused, “But I probably appeared pretty scary to you. You were just acting so chill about it I’d thought you might have believed me.”  
There was a silent alarm on the bottom of her desk. She pressed it before coolly responding, “You can understand how I’d have reservations about the validity of your story.”  
“I know. I also found it hard to believe when I was first approached by my first vampire. But seeing is believing, right?”  
Again she was reminded of how boyish he could be as he smiled brightly at her. How could someone who appeared so innocent be so corrupted in his mind? But maybe that was what partly allowed him to believe his lie so vehemently, his child like nature. In fact, perhaps she’d been approaching her diagnosis of his mental state wrong. Maybe it wasn’t psychosis, but some kind of learning disability. He did work in a children’s restaurant, where he engaged in the various activities with as reckless abandon as the children themselves. He could have come to believe himself a vampire through some misconception of how the world worked.  
But psychology was not her expertise and she did not want to take the time to understand him. He did not have what she needed. It was time to expel him from her life.  
“Please, let me prove myself to you.”  
The way he looked at her, with such sincerity, made her question her own sanity as she found herself wanting to believe him. It was ridiculous, she knew it, but the way he looked at her made her feel something she’d never felt before. And all reservations aside, he still had a golden key. If she stayed with him she might be able to find the information she needed. Maybe there was someone out there feeding the lies to him about his immortality. Maybe even the same person that owned the original key.  
Before she could take him up on his offer, Henshaw opened the door. His hand was on his gun as he took in Judah then turned a curious look on her.  
“Everything okay in here?”  
“Sorry, I must have bumped it with my knee. You can go. Everything’s fine.”  
He looked confused, knowing she didn’t make such mistakes. But he was also lax with his job and took her excuse as good enough as he left the room.   
She considered for a moment reporting him then decided she didn’t have time.  
She rose.  
“Lead the way.”


	9. Chapter 9

Judah appeared like he had nowhere in mind to take her as they walked down the street. He was like a wide eyed tourist taking everything in as he stopped to inspect a sign declaring “half price meats” and then knelt down to pet some dogs as their walker paused to take a drink.  
“I thought dogs and vampires didn’t get along.”  
The way he pulled in his lower lip while peering around the street to make sure no one had heard her made him look comical.   
Rising, he leaned in his as he whispered, “Please take this seriously. I told you that in confidence.”  
“I am being serious. I’m just trying to understand.”  
He stepped back to study her, his face taking on the serious expression from the previous night. Deciding she was serious he nodded satisfactorily.  
“Okay, that’s fine. But let’s not use the V word. How about we refer to it as,” he paused to think, tapping his chin as he did, “Ah, anemia. If you have to talk about it refer to it like I’m anemic.”  
She let out a long slow sigh, before rephrasing her statement, “I thought dogs and anemics didn’t get along.”  
“Anemics don’t mind dogs and dogs don’t mind them. It’s…” he thought for a moment before continuing, “those with rabies we don’t get along with.”  
She took it from the context that rabies was the safe word for werewolves. She groaned internally, “I take it then, they are real too.”  
He nodded, “But their numbers have lessened greatly since their drop in popularity.” Noticing her brow arch, he explained, “Think of how many people want to be anemic now a days with all the TV shows and movies. But nobody wants to be all hairy and have their mood decided by cycles of the moon.”  
“I know I don’t like it.”  
He laughed at her joke, “But you’ll still find the occasional person with rabies running through the woods at night and being mistaken for big foot.”  
“So he’s not real? Just a…person with rabies experiencing their lunar cycle.”  
He grinned, “Exactly. You know, you’re a quick study.”  
She hated the compliment and wanted so badly to argue with him. Instead she kept it all to herself as they continued down the street.  
“You said last night that powerful people hold the golden keys. And you said you got yours at that antique store long ago. But like I said, the owner didn’t recognize it.”  
“She probably wasn’t even alive when I got my key. Back when I did the ship was a meeting place for anemics.”  
“And you say that only powerful anemics have the keys.” He nodded, “Then how did someone who works at Buck E. Pizzas manage to get one?”  
“Hey, I chose this life after I lived that powerful life. But it gets old after a time.”  
“And so you chose Pizza.”  
He looked to not appreciate her tone, as he said, “For an anemic, it’s nice to work at a place that doesn’t look too closely at your background. Unlike Buskin Robins.”  
Her eyes narrowed, “Is that a Bugman reference?”  
He laughed, “Wow, I can’t believe you got that. It was. Do you like super hero movies?”  
“No. My...” she paused for a moment, “My friend did. He used to drag me to them.”  
“Your friend has good taste. Who is his favorite hero?”  
“Don’t people at work notice when you look the exact same way year after year?”  
He waved away her question like he found it ridiculous, “Nah, the turnover rate among employees is high and the customers only come in once a year for a few years and then never come back. Even if they came back years later with their own kids they’re not going to remember me.”  
“But the photos. Aren’t you afraid someone’s going to notice your lack of aging there?”  
He laughed, “That’s something the myths actually got right. I don’t show up in photos.”  
While he found it amusing she frowned, “Wasn’t the only reason that vampires didn’t show up in mirrors and photos because of the silver used in them?”  
He shuddered at the word, “Uh, I guess.”  
“It’s the digital age now. No silver.”  
As he started to argue she held up her phone and took a quick snapshot. The stunned expression on his face at seeing his own image almost made her laugh. Almost.  
“Wow. I gotta quit my job.”


	10. Chapter 10

With a simple shrug and a small laugh he was over the whole thing as he started to bounce along the street. She followed him in silence till he suddenly spun around as he startled her heart with his open mouth smile.  
“Wait, you sure know a lot about vampires.” The way his mouth formed a circle with the question while he side eyed her made her lose focus for a moment.  
“They are undead. The dead is my domain.”  
He laughed. “I see.”  
Most people found her creepy. Especially when she said things like that. But he was unfazed.  
But what did she expect from someone who actually believed they were a vampire.   
“You said you were going to prove you were anemic.”  
His smile made her heart flinch. As they approached a crowd of people he slid his hand into hers to ensure they didn’t get separated. His hand was cold but she took little notice as the rest of her body went hot. It was a strange sensation, but she tried to focus elsewhere, as she fixed her eyes on his back. His perfectly sculpted trapezius, deltoid, and muscles of the scapula flexing as he leaned back to avoid a bicyclist.   
Every now and then he’d look back as if to check if she was there. And each time he saw her he’d give her that smile that made her heart react strangely. Like a mini panic attack.  
They stopped at a cross walk where they waited for the traffic to slow. Through their journey her hair had become disheveled. Before she could reach up to brush back her bangs his hand came up, gently sliding the hair back across her forehead. His hand remained hovering there as their eyes locked. His eyes were a deep brown, almost black like the night. But there was nothing in them that made her afraid. Instead, the thought of falling into his eyes gave her great peace.  
He pulled back his hand like someone who’d been touching fire for too long. That was also when their eyes broke apart as he turned back to watch the street.  
Pulling her hand free of his, she shoved into her pocket. It still tingled with the cold and no matter how many times she rubbed her fingers together they remained numb with cold.   
Over and again she reminded herself he was insane. That no matter how sane he appeared, when he looked at her with those chocolate eyes, he was dangerous. Even if his smile and laugh made her think of puppies playing he was hazardous to her health.   
Her eyes noticed him moving as she focused on him. He was reaching up to brush back his hair, which moved smoothly through his fingers. For a moment she imagined her own fingers sliding through his locks. Then she shook away the image.  
She wasn’t here for him. She was here for the key. That was the only reason she was following him. No other reason.  
But what was the reason that her eyes kept wandering to him. What was the logic to her snatching glances at him in the reflections of the store windows. There was no reason for her to lose her footing when she noticed how his arm flexed when he reached back to scratch his neck. There was also no quantitative reason her vision focused in on his lips every time he stopped to share some tidbit of historical knowledge about the city.  
Was it something other than her investigation that made her notice how the light shining behind his head made his ears glow like two embers of fire? Was there more to it than the key that made her insides react when his smile took a second to go from gentle a look of complete adoration. Each time he gave her that look her heart cried out in protest, “I feel personally attacked.”  
Each time her heart fluttered she reminded herself she was a highly educated individual who should not let a cinnamon roll’s smile dissuade her from her investigation. No matter how nice he looked, no matter how perfectly his hand fit in hers, she was not a person of emotion but logic. Still, the way she felt each time he glanced back to check on her made no logical sense.  
It got so bad at one point that she found herself choking on air when he turned another adoring smile on her while pointing ahead as he said something.   
Over the panicked screams from her heart she realized she hadn’t heard him, “What?”  
“This is the place.”  
The place was an antique shop, a different one from the one he’d sent her to the previous day. She took in a breath to calm her frazzled nerves before stepping into the overflowing building. This one was even more packed as they had to walk single file through the narrow aisles.  
“Is this the place you got the key?”  
“No. But they have something here that should give you all the evidence you need.”  
At the back of the store he pointed to an elegantly framed mirror.   
“What do you see?”  
The edges of the mirror were blackened and some of the reflective surface was peeling off. It looked old and when she peered into the frame the reflection of the shop behind her were skewed like a carnival mirror. It seemed the mirror had become concave over the years.   
But she could still make out her face just fine. It looked as impassive as ever, but there was a tiredness to her eyes. An exhaustion she knew had come from spending the day with mentally exhausting puzzle of a man.  
“Ah, I see you’ve noticed the mirror,” the owner of the shop came over as she pointed out some of the decorations on the mirror, “This is a real treasure. I know it doesn’t look like it, but this was made back when they used silver. That is why it’s peeling. Back then it was hard to keep the silver even throughout. Later they used mercury because it flowed better, but an old silver mirror is a rare find. Are you interested?”  
“No. Thank you.”  
She turned, taking the lead as she headed out of the store.   
Behind her, Judah looked expectant as he hurried after, “Well?”  
“Well, what?”  
“Was that enough?”  
“Was what enough?”  
“Seeing the mirror.”  
She let out a frustrated sigh, “What was the point of all that?”  
“Did you not notice?” he looked back at the shop, “I’ll show you again.”  
She pulled him back before he could go back inside, “Show me what?”  
His eyebrows crinkled, “This was the way Cole proved to me he was a vampire.”  
“By showing you a mirror.”  
“So you didn’t notice.”  
“Notice what?”  
“Where was I standing in the shop?”  
She was getting frustrated with how long he was taking to explain himself, but made herself play along as she replied, “Next to me.”  
“And in the mirror where was I?”  
She started to snap, “Next to me,” but then her mind replayed the image. There was her, there were the items in the shop, and when the owner had come over there was the edge of his face shown in the reflection.   
Kyle felt as if she’d been touched with ice as she looked back at the shop, “You were…”  
She couldn’t bring herself to accept it. To even say it.  
There was just no way. It was some kind of trick. He’d brought her to this very spot so he could fool her with some trick mirror.  
She pointed to his reflection in the store glass, “I can see you right there.”  
“But not in that mirror.”  
She could tell he was being patient with her, waiting for her to come to it on her own. That only annoyed her more.  
“That mirror was fake. You set this up somehow.”  
He shook his head, “Like you said earlier, vampires can’t be seen in silver mirrors. I’d never thought about the connection to my once absent reflection and how I can see myself now.But a long time ago I could only catch glimpses of myself in glass or the odd puddle.”  
She could not accept this. It made no logical sense. How could something so unreal actually exist? It just did not fit into the world she’d known up till then.  
“It’s not real.”  
“But it is.”  
She pulled away at first when he reached out to her but when he tried again she let him take a hold of her hand. Everything seemed to slow down as he placed it against his chest. Her own heart beat seemed to slow as she waited. Then a single beat of her own heart passed, then another and still his remained still.  
“If I’d let you cut me open you would have seen the truth.” His voice sounded like it was coming from a great distance. And still she could feel nothing move behind his ribcage.  
She tore her hand away from him feeling cold all the way through. She even shivered, something she rarely did.   
His was gone as he stared at her with complete seriousness. It annoyed her seeing the mature look on his face. It didn’t belong there. This was just some kind of joke. There had to be a reasonable explanation for all of this. But even when she pressed her fingers to his throat, then his wrist and found no pulse she realized she had no good explanation for it.   
She’d once read, when the impossible has been eliminated, whatever remained, no matter how improbable, was the truth.  
The truth was humans lied while the dead never did.   
If Judah had no heartbeat there was only one thing left to believe: he was telling the truth.


	11. Chapter 11

Kyle’s shoulders dropped in defeat as he moved close to whisper, “Say it. Say what I am out loud.”  
She frowned as she lifted her eyes, “I am not quoting that book.”  
His eyes narrowed in confusion, “It’s a book? I thought it was an awfully long and overfunded soap opera.”   
Her eyes rolled to the side as she let out a long breath of air. Her exhale stopped half way as her eyes flew back to his chest. She heard him cry out in surprise as she moved to press her ear against his ribcage. She frowned when she only heard the sounds of the street around them.  
“What are—?”  
His question was cut off as she grabbed his wrist and pulled him down the street. There was a shopping center nearby with several shops in one building. Heading inside she pulled him through the crowd of people. In a shop window she glanced over to see his reflection as he hurried to keep up with her long strides. Seeing it only made her frown deeper as she sped down a side hall.   
The women’s bathroom was occupied, she could see the women at the sink just before she fully turned the corner into the room. Pushing Judah back, she took him across the hall. The men’s bathroom was unoccupied and quiet enough.   
“Should we really be in—?”  
She shushed him as she shoved him against the tiled wall before pressing her ear to his chest. There was no heartbeat, like she’d expected from the lack of pulse, but she remained pressed against him as she waited for something else. And she waited as the silence continued around them. Her own chest rose and fell with each breath but his remained still. As still as…she pushed back from him.  
“You don’t breath either?”  
She could hear the strain in her voice, even as she tried to maintain her composure.  
“That’s why those medics thought I was dead, remember? No breath. No heartbeat.” His teeth shone as his face broke into a smile, “Or were you pretending to forget so you could have an excuse to lay your head on my chest?” His ears actually reddened, which made no medical sense if his heart wasn’t moving blood to his extremities. “You know all you had to do was ask?”  
She closed her eyes, collecting her emotions, before she gave him one of her intense looks, “That is not what I—.”  
A man came around the corner. Seeing them he shot them a curious look before shrugging slightly as he continued into a stall.  
Kyle pressed her lips together in a tight expression as she closed her eyes in her method of relaxation. When her eyes opened again she grabbed Judah’s hand. Pulling him out of the restroom, she kept a firm hold on his wrist as they walked back through the mall. She didn’t know where she was going or what she was going to do as she just kept walking.   
Her hand was pulled back. She turned and was reminded that Judah was still with her.  
He looked sympathetic as he gave her a gentle smile.   
She wished he’d stop doing that.  
“I know this is a lot to take in. It was a long time ago when I was first introduced to this world, but I still remember how it sent my whole world into a tailspin. You’re actually handling this a lot better than I did. I’m pretty sure I started screaming and ran away from Cole when he first showed me the mirror,” he chuckled at the memory, “I recall he chased me over most of the city before I settled down.”  
Running away. That was what she could have down. But even now that the thought was in her head her legs remained still. It was like she was trapped by this man. Even just the thought of leaving his presence made her stomach go tight in discomfort.  
“Do vamp—,” he tensed as she started, then relaxed when she corrected herself, “anemics. Do they have special powers? Like turning into bats or flying? Or hypnosis,” her eyes were accusatory, though she doubted he noticed.  
When he grinned she looked for fangs but his teeth looked no different than anyone else’s. There was not even a point to his canines.   
Were fangs just another part of the made up myth?  
“There’s the living forever. We don’t need to eat, except for blood. No flying though, a fact which I was disappointed to learn after I’d been turned. No shifting into bats, we can’t even talk to them, or command a flock of them.”  
“Colony,” she corrected.  
“Really the only thing anemia has going for it is the eternal youth.”  
“And hypnosis?”  
“Another Hollywood creation. I can’t even perform card tricks. But that’s more a personal thing than anything to do with anemia.”  
She rested her head against her fist as she felt her head ache will all the outlandish information. There had to be some kind of reasonable explanation for all of this. There just had to be.  
Something that could explain his lack of heartbeat. The absence of his reflection in silver. And there had to be some reason that no matter how hard she tried she could not bring herself to leave the presence of this man.   
Could it be animal magnetism? Some power he was keeping from her. In movies vampires were beings of sexual magnetism. Even the staunchest of opponents succumbed to their otherworldly wiles.  
She wanted to believe that she was stronger than that, but standing there she realized just how weak she was to his supernatural advances. Like a mouse faced wrapped in the clutches of a constrictor, she was unable to move.   
Noticing her staring he gave her another gentle smiles that quickly turned into an adoring grin. As her whole body shivered she knew without a shadow of a doubt: she’d been hexed.


	12. Chapter 12

Kyle couldn’t leave his side, even as he took over leading the way. He did not even hold her hand at first and yet she followed, like a lamb heading to the slaughter.  
Then he reached back and when his hand touched hers it felt like lightning was coursing through her veins. He’d told her vampires had no magic to them, but magic was the only logical explanation left to her. No matter how ridiculous it sounded.   
Perhaps it had been magic that had gained him unnatural abilities. Instead of vampire, he could be a human who had made a deal with the devil, turning himself into some soulless warlock. For his eternal soul he’d gained the ability to seduce anyone he wanted, along with the immortality to seduce souls across time.   
But if that were the case, why was he wasting his time with her?  
She reminded herself for him it wasn’t about the pursuit, it was about the conquest. And to conquer he was to silence her questions about the golden key. That was the only thing that made sense. She knew too much. And to keep her from telling anyone else about him he was going to take her back to his coven to sacrifice her to his dark lord.  
Even with all those dark thoughts running through her mind she found she could not let go of his hand. His bright smile that kept her there had to be some demonic gift. There was no other earthly explanation for its ability to convey such innocence from one so evil.   
“I guess now that you know about me being anemic I can tell you more about the keys.”  
Her shoulders had been hunched with worry but at the mention of the key she straightened up as she listened intently.  
As they continued down the street he told her the story, pausing every now and then to check their surroundings as he led her with a specific destination in mind.   
“The first keys, which didn’t look much like mine, were made by Benjamin Franklin.”  
“He was anemic?”  
He nodded, “He was the sire of my sire. Those first keys were used by anemic postal workers to pick up special stores of blood which they’d deliver to other anemics.”  
“Like some kind of horror movie milkmen?”  
His mouth twitched with a smile, but he remained serious as he nodded, “As the years passed, new keys were made for those in a higher position in the community. I was in Louisiana through all of this but was told the history on a trip to Seattle a few hundred years later. By that time the original key holders were in high positions of powers, with those in the highest positions holding the golden keys.”  
“Wait, is Benjamin Franklin still alive?”  
“Oh yeah, he’s still around. Somewhere. He was the guy that invented the Y-Phone.”  
“You can’t be serious. He died.”  
His shoulders bounced in a small shrug, “I guess he got tired of that gig and moved on. He did the same thing years back when him and the other gold key holders retired to quieter lives. That’s when they passed them on to the next generation.”  
“Like you and your sire?”  
He smiled as if proud of how quickly she was following all this new information, “Back then other anemics would carry less elaborate keys as a calling card to easily prove to others of their anemia?”  
“Like a secret handshake?”  
He laughed, “I guess. But those with the golden keys are revered as the top anemics. When you show one of them you can basically go anywhere.”  
“Or do anything?”  
She frowned as she remembered the whole reason she’d started following him. The memory caused her to finally tear her hand free of his. The act startled him as he looked at her with wide eyes.   
“Is something wrong?”  
“Stop distracting me. I’m only here to find the original owner of the second key. Nothing else.”  
His eyebrows knit in that sympathetic look. She felt her blood boil with annoyance.  
“Yeah, about that. If that key was found at a crime scene, and an anemic had something to do with it, especially one that had a golden key, there’s not much you can do even if you do find him.”  
Her jaw was tight as her eyes narrowed, “What do you mean?”  
“Like I said, golden key holders hold pretty high positions. Not just in the anemic community. And the only way to convict an anemic is to have another anemic accuse them. And they’ll only be convicted on a pretty serious offense.”  
She clutched the seam of her jeans as she felt her hands shake with anger, “What kind of justice system do you anemics have?”  
“I know it doesn’t sound fair; to non-anemics it’s not. But there is a hierarchy to things.”  
She snorted, “So you say, but you’re a golden key holder and yet work at Buck E. Pizzas.”  
He winced at the bite in her tone, “Yeah, well, like I said, I tried the whole money thing and I didn’t like it. I thought I’d try a simpler life this time.”  
“And as a golden key holder can you not investigate this? Are you not even able to bring down another golden?”  
He rubbed the back of his neck as he considered her words, “It would be hard. And it would take very special circumstances to even convict them.”  
“Like what?”  
He averted his eyes as he mumbled, “Like them doing something that could expose us.”  
She waited for more but that was all he said, “Is that the only thing?”  
His grimace told her all she needed to know.  
“He could go on a killing spree, and as long as it was never suspected that he was a vampire, they’d let him continue?”  
His eyes dropped to the ground. That was an affirmative.  
She threw up her hands in frustration as she turned away, unable to look at him as her emotions churned.   
His voice was soft as he tried to comfort her, “I know it’s unfair, but it’s how things have been for a long time. I’m sure you know how hard it is for things to change when people have become set in their ways.”  
She turned back, her voice strained as she reminded him, “But he killed someone. He drained them of life and then left them alone in a room like some lifeless husk.”  
“And humans do worse than that to each other all the time. How many of them have gotten away with it because of their positions in society?”  
Her throat felt tight as she choked out the words she’d been holding back since it happened, “He killed my friend.”


	13. Chapter 13

Kyle’s heart was pounding as Judah’s sympathetic expression melted into a look of horror. Her body shivered at the expression which reminded her of the one she’d seen frozen on the face of her friend.   
Judah’s voice was strained as asked her the question she’d been dreading to hear, “He was drained by a vampire?”  
All pretense was dropped as the truth exposed them both to the horrors of reality  
“No. He was stabbed to death.”  
Her tone had returned to its neutral state so that Judah had trouble matching the words to her dispassionate expression, “Stabbed? In the neck?”  
“The chest. Seven times. The precinct thinks the death was related to another case, but when they brought in all Detective Goncalves files the golden key was missing. I know Titus’ death is related to that case.”  
He started to reach out to her in comfort but thought better of it as he slid his hands into his pockets.   
“Anything could have happened to the key. His killer could have been a thief who took it for some extra cash. It is made of gold.”  
Her insides were broiling but her tone was impassive as she told him, “You didn’t see the look on his face. The terror in his eyes was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. It was like he’d seen a monster just before he died.”  
Judah became pale again, another anomaly for someone with no blood flow.   
“Then the one who killed him had to be the owner of the golden key. And they killed him to stop his investigation.”  
“Because he was going to expose your kind.”  
He shook his head, “They would have done something more subtle. It would have been quiet and they’d never have found a body.”  
Her body shivered with the cold reality in his words, “But he still would have died.”  
“I’m sorry. But I don’t think with his looking into the key that he would have come close enough to make them want to quiet him. Only anemics know about the keys and they’re not going to say anything.”  
Hearing the code word again made Kyle fill sick as she turned away.   
“But I think he could have come close to finding the owner of the key. And that might have been enough to have them silence him. They might have seen him as annoyance easily disposed of an forgotten.”  
Anger flared up as she turned it on him, “Easily disposed on.”  
He frowned at his own use of words, “I didn’t mean it that way. I don’t think like that.”  
“Don’t you? Aren’t we all just walking blood bags to you?”  
She could tell she’d hit him in a sore spot as he cringed.  
“And because of that my friend’s case is going to remain cold. He’ll never get the justice everyone deserves. Even blood bags.”  
Judah looked sick, “I’m sorry.”  
She’d heard enough. Turning away, she felt like the spell had finally been broken as she was able to take a step away from him. Then another. Before she knew it she’d left him completely behind.  
Stepping quick down the street she did not know where she was going. Her mind barely registered the world around her as she wandered the streets.  
She could still remember the last time she’d seen Detective Goncalves alive. He was in the morgue, not even there for a case, just chatting with her about the latest super hero movie. He’d had an excited grin that had made her wonder how someone so immature had become a detective. But she’d always known when it came down to it he was a hard worker who never gave up on something once started.   
It was that drive that had led him to continue to investigate on the golden key even when the case went cold. In his spare hours he’d visit locksmiths or antique shops. Nothing ever turned up but he kept digging.  
“She had a family, Janaskie. They lost their daughter and they don’t know why.”  
She hadn’t understood it then but now she did. When she’d lost someone and didn’t know why.   
But now she did know and yet she didn’t feel any better for it.  
“Why couldn’t you have let it go?”  
Her eyes began to sting as she stopped in the middle of the side walk. Pressing the heels of her hand into her eyes she felt her shoulders shiver.  
If she had known what was going to happen she would have accepted his last offer to eat with him. She would have not told him for the hundredth time to drop it, to move on. Just for that night she would have let him thing that something could happen.   
But regrets were for the living and he’d been dead for a year now. She could not go back and change things.  
She felt the presence in front of her. Lifting her eyes she found Judah standing in front of her. There was a look of pain in his eyes. She could see he was struggling to offer some words of comfort but nothing would come as his mouth opened and closed like a fish.   
In the end it stopped as he just stood there, his hands clenched into shaking fists at his side.   
Before she could think it through she rushed forward as she wrapped her arms around him. Just as soon as she wrapped around him he put his arms around her as she leaned in to rest her head in the crook of his neck.   
It made sense for the living to lie. The dead only stopped because their pain was over. For the living the pain was still going. And sometimes you needed to lie in order to hide that fact.   
This was why she had used lying like a second skin. Why she had let it become like second nature to her, like breathing.   
“Are you sure you want to do his autopsy?”  
“I’m the best coroner in the city. If you’re going to find his killer you need me.”  
“Are you sure you want to come back to work? The funeral was just yesterday.”  
“And someone else’s funeral will be today. The world goes on and so should we.”  
The called her cold for her responses but it was the only way she knew how to cope. Acting like she didn’t care, like nothing bothered her, made it easier to believe that she didn’t. That she didn’t care. When deep down the festering hole in her soul throbbed with the truth.  
But there in Judah’s arms she felt like a cadaver on the examination table, completely exposed to the world, no more lies to tell and no more truths to hide. And though she’d been afraid of this moment, when it finally came time to be cut up, she found herself at peace.   
The dead did not lie. And with no more need for untruths they were never lied to.


	14. Chapter 14

Kyle didn’t know how long she cried there in the middle of the sidewalk. She didn’t know how many people stopped to stare at her before continuing on. None of that mattered as she let it all out, all the pain, all the fears, all the misplaced anger. And Judah took it all, the tears, the swearing, the occasional fist which did not even make him flinch as it hit against him.   
Did the living dead feel pain?  
It must have been nice not to feel the ache of loss. To feel it when someone in your life was torn away, never to return again.  
But when she pulled away the look in her eyes told her that he was far from being immune to that kind of pain. There was a tenderness in his gaze and a sympathetic ache for her pain that made her want to bury her face in his chest again. But she was done with that. Things had to be done and there was no more time for crying.  
“I’m not giving up on this.”  
He nodded as if he’d expected this from her.  
“I want to bring this case to your court. Or whatever you call it.”  
He did not argue, but slid his hand into hers before heading down the street. She could not tell if he was taking her where he’d been going on all along or if they were going to a new location.  
By that time the sun was just barely reaching them from behind the buildings as the sky grew dim. But the street they walked down was still bright as the lights from the various businesses and clubs replaced the light of the sun.   
When she saw that he was heading to one of the clubs she pulled against him.  
He looked worried as he looked back, “What’s wrong?”  
“I said I wanted to see your people. Not go clubbing.”  
He looked back at the club, then looked at her. His lips went thin in a turtle’s expression as he told her, “This is it.”  
“Your leaders hang out in a club?”  
“One of them does. He’s the one closest to us. And he’s the one I trust to help us.”  
She let him lead her again as they headed to the front of the line as the bouncer let them in without Judah having to say anything this time. Around them the room thrummed with music as even more bodies bounced and swayed with the music. But they weren’t there for that as he led them to where the VIP lounge was located.  
This time the room wasn’t empty, as various beautiful bodies lounged across the seats. In the center of it all sat a man with dark hair and a permanent grin on his face. While Judah’s expressions conveyed young innocence, this man’s expression made Kyle want to shiver, even though the room was hot with body heat. He had a coldness to his eyes which contrasted with Judah’s sunbeam gaze.  
But there was a handsomeness in him that Kyle could see as winning many to his side, like Judah had suggested. A kind of beauty that could cause some to lose all sense of danger as they lost themselves in serving his every whim.  
Past him, Kyle took note of a beautiful woman with long blonde hair. Wearing a dress with as little fabric as legally allowed, her skin was revealed to sport various tattoos which covered her like art. She was leaned lazily against the dark man as she whispered in his ear while rubbing her hand under his shirt.   
When Judah approached them the man gave him a simple nod of greeting as Kyle realized the woman wasn’t whispering in his ear, she was nibbling it.   
“I need to talk to you.” Gone was the boyish charm. Judah was all business.  
Before the man could respond the woman’s eyes lazily rose from him to Judah. Her expression took on a sneer as she cast one brief look to Kyle, “Playing with your food again, Judah?”  
“Don’t,” his voice was hard as iron. Turning again to the man he said, “We need to talk. Somewhere private.”  
The woman moved back as the man sat up from his relaxed position. He flexed his neck for a moment then rose, not saying a word as he signaled for Judah to follow him. Kyle started to come but Judah turned back as he placed his hands on her shoulders.  
“Wait here. Non anemics aren’t allowed past this point.”  
As he turned away he cast a hard look at the female as he ordered her, “Don’t touch her.”  
Once they were gone the woman rose to her feet, moving like a cat, as she sauntered towards Kyle.   
She circled her once like hungry lion before asking, “What’s your name beautiful?”  
“Kyle.”  
The woman let out an amused sound as Kyle felt her cold fingers brush the back of her neck.  
“That’s a strange name for a woman. Has Judah developed new tastes?” She came around front of Kyle as she stepped back for a moment, “But then…you have a feminine physique,” she motioned to Kyle’s frame with her hand, then brought the appendage up to her chin as she took on a thoughtful pose, “So what are you? Not that it matters to me.” Her lips curled as her eyebrows rose in a suggestive manner.  
“Not interested.”  
Kyle moved past the woman who started to laugh, “Oh, I like you. But you don’t seem Judah’s type. Of course, neither did I.”  
Kyle felt her body go tense as her heart froze in place. Looking back she found the woman watching as if she’d been waiting for Kyle to turn back.  
“Did he not tell you about me?” her coy smile told Kyle that she already knew the answer, “Rachel Adams, it’s very nice to meet you, girlfriend 2.0.”  
“I’m not his girlfriend.”  
This amused Rachel even more as she covered her mouth, “Is that so. Then why is it your “not boyfriend” is in there fighting for you with Cole?”  
Kyle’s head darted back to the hall Judah and the man had disappeared down, “That’s Cole Derringer?”  
Rachel let out an amused sound at Kyle’s realization.  
“I see this infatuation is still in its early stages if you don’t know about Cole.”  
Kyle’s eyes were intense as she fixed them on Rachel, “I know. I just hadn’t seen him before.”  
Her response only made Rachel laugh again. Kyle didn’t know what this girl was finding so amusing, but it was making her more agitated.   
“You’re adorable. I can see now what Judah might like in you. But don’t get attached,” Kyle felt her jaw go tight as her nostrils pulsed. The woman drew close so that her breath would have been hot if she’d had any as she whispered, “We’re all just wild animals deep down. No matter how gentle we may seem.”  
Rachel’s smile was amused as she moved back. Giving Kyle a little wave she headed to a corner of the room where three people were interlaced like fingers.   
Kyle turned back to peer down the hallway Judah had disappeared into. The sunbeam boy she’d imagined had been replaced in her mind with a manipulative shadow of a man. She felt foolish for ever thinking he’d been anything else.


	15. Chapter 15

Kyle tried not to let Rachel’s words got under her skin, but they still pried their way under. Things got so bad she left the VIP room as she headed out into the dance hall where the sweet piano notes were sounding the start of Demi Lovato’s “Cool for the summer.” The music was loud so that Kyle’s mind was filled with the pulsing which knocked out all other thoughts.   
She didn’t mind as she joined the dancer’s on the floor. Closing her eyes she let the music overtake her as she lost herself in the beat.  
‘I just want to have some fun with you. Got my mind on your body and your body on my mind. Got a taste for the cherry. I just need to take a bite.’  
It was only when the chorus played for the second time that the words hit her. Her movements stopped as she went cold.   
Was that all this was? A preamble to him taking from her everything he wanted? Was it all just some game to him?  
He made her think he was innocent, that she meant something to him. But when he got bored he’d do what any beast did with the prey when they got hungry.   
“We’re all just wild animals deep down. No matter how gentle we may seem.”   
She didn’t want to remember them but Rachel’s words began to play along with the lyrics.  
Around her the bodies swayed, bumping into her, but she was unmoved. She knew she should run. If it were true she was in more danger staying in his lair. But as before, something kept her from moving.  
She was foolish for thinking that Judah was different than the one that had killed Titus. Vampires were monsters after all. No matter the story, that’s what they all were deep down. Even when they were the good guys they were still just blood suckers and humans were just blood sacks. Play things for the life drainers. If she stuck around she’d end up as just another husk, like the girl whose body had started all of it.  
Still, there was a part of her that kept her there as she turned to looked back in the direction of the VIP room. The music faded into the background as all the lights seemed to turn on one spot as she spotted him coming down. His eyes were scanning the room of bodies. Though the crowd was thick that night, it was like their eyes were magnets, drawn to one another. As their eyes locked she felt the jolt go through her body.   
Was it his magic again? Was that what was keeping her feet locked there?  
Her eyebrows were pressed together in worry as he stepped in front of her. He said something she couldn’t hear over the loud music but in his eyes she saw the question, “Are you okay?”  
Her chance to run had come and gone. Yet even now she had a chance to lose herself in the crowd.   
Then he leaned in, pushing up slightly as he called near her ear, “Kyle what happened? Did Rachel say something?”  
The woman’s name was like a trigger as she felt her chest ignite with anger. With the heat came a nausea at the thought of them together. She could almost see it. They were sitting in the lounge chairs, her body pressed up against his, her lips curled around his ear, as he flinched while telling her to stop, “You know I’m ticklish.”  
But she couldn’t and finally she’d grow tired of it all as she rose to her feet. And with her body moving like a snake Judah’s eyes would follow her the whole way up, his innocent eyes widening as she’d reached down to pull him up. Then with a seductive look in her eyes she’d lead him off to a private room. The whole way he’d wear that big goofy grin, because he knew exactly what was happening.  
Before Kyle knew what she was doing she punched Judah in the chest. This time he winced.  
“Kyle, what’s wrong?”  
“Don’t do it.”  
“Do what?”  
“Don’t smile at her like that. Don’t follow her.”  
He took a hold of her fists as they started to hit him again. Resting them against his chest he tilted his head up to look at her with an expression of concern.  
“What happened while I was gone?”  
Kyle knew she was being ridiculous, emotional, but something about this idiot made her lose all sense of reason. He made her want to feel things, to express emotions she usually preferred to keep hidden deep inside where no one could see.   
“She told me about you two.”  
She couldn’t tell in the club lighting but it seemed like he grew pale as he let out a simple, “Oh.”  
“Is that all you have to say?”  
He gentle let her hands down from his chest before letting them drop back to her sides. His eyes followed the movement, staying down on the floor as he said, “We all have things in our past we regret.”  
There was an ache in his voice that made her heart slam against her chest in the desire to get at him to comfort him, “I volunteer as tribute!”   
But he was the one in the wrong here, right? He didn’t deserve comfort.  
“I saw something in her that wasn’t there.” He glanced up, looking for a moment to see if his words had done anything to change the hardness in her eyes. When he saw nothing had changed he looked down again.  
“And what did you think you saw?”  
He answered but she couldn’t hear him. Taking a hold of his elbow she lead him back to the bathrooms. She locked them in the unisex bathroom.  
There the music was like a distance bass as she asked him to say it again.  
He let out a slow sigh, as if it pained him to think of the past, “Life.”  
“What does that mean?”  
“Even though I’m technically dead I don’t want to act like it. I thought there was life in Rachel, even though we were both vampires. But I was wrong. She was as cold inside as you pretend to be outside.”  
Kyle’s arms were folded and they tensed as she tried to ignore his attempted observation about her, “You have poor judgement if you thought that viper was some warm and fuzzy animal.”  
He looked like a scolded puppy as he nodded , “I have a problem with seeing the best in people. Even if there’s nothing there to see.”  
She exhaled as she turned her eyes away. At this point her heart was on its knees begging her to forgive him, but she was not ready to offer the olive leaf.   
Then she saw her reflection in the bathroom mirror. There was a hard look in her eyes that caught her off guard. The expression faded into confusion as she realized there was no reason for her to act like this. What did it matter to her if Judah had dated Rachel? And why did she care that he even had an ex?   
The only thing she should be concerned with was finding the golden key holder and avenging Titus. He was the whole reason she was there.  
Wasn’t he?  
She slowly turned her eyes back. Judah’s head was down, his eyes looking droopy with sadness. She felt herself wince at how cute and pathetic he looked. Her heart was now digging at the inside of her chest, trying to get out in order to comfort him in her place.  
Reaching up, she rubbed at the crease that hard formed between her eyebrows.   
“I guess we all have done things we regret.”  
His head rose slowly at her calm voice, his eyes tentatively rising to her face.   
“And you shouldn’t be the one scolded when someone has let you down.”  
His eyes were wide with hope as he peered at her. He’d pressed his lips together as if he was holding back a wide smile about ready to burst forth.  
Kyle scratched at the space under her ear as she turned her eyes towards a bit of graffiti on the bathroom wall. Even in a nice place there were still those that felt the need to leave their mark.  
As the silence stretched on Judah tried to break the silence as he said, “I asked Cole about your case and he said he’d look into it. I don’t want to get your hopes up, but I want you to know I’m not going to rest until we find the guy that did it. After that it will be out of my hands, but I hope that will at least give you—.”  
She was only half listening as she stared at the mirror. In its reflection she watched his lips move along with each word. Never before had she paid much attention to people’s mouths, let alone their lips. When she talked with them her eyes rested on the tip of the nose. But ever since he’d come alive on her table her eyes had been uncharacteristically drawn to his mouth. The way his lips formed words, the way his lower lip jutted out on certain words, it took a great deal of focus on her part to not become lost watching their dance.   
Even now she was having a hard time listening, though she wasn’t looking directly at them. She heard the words, she felt the impact of what they meant, but the meaning behind his words did not register until she noticed his tone.  
“You can rest easy now knowing that someone is looking into it. It might not end with the justice Titus deserves, but if I can, I’ll at least bring you his killer’s name.”  
There was a tone of finality to his words. The sounds of a goodbye before a forever parting.   
She turned her eyes towards him. He had brought her as far as he could and from this point on their connection was over. She had no more need to bug him and he had no more reason to guide her.  
Her expression had gone blank as he stopped what he was saying to give her a worried look, “Kyle, is everything okay?”  
No, everything was not okay and she couldn’t understand why.  
That’s when her heart cried out as if it had been yelling it for hours, “Kiss him!”  
As soon as her mind registered the words she moved towards him like a robot enacting a preprogramed command.   
As she came at him, Judah’s shoulders rose in a cringe as his hands moved down to guard himself. She would have laughed if not for the fact that in the next second her lips were pressed against his. Then it was like everything went off at once: sights, sounds, smells. Her eyes slid closed as she let that all fade away as she lost herself in the feeling of kissing the vampire without fangs.


	16. Chapter 16

It was like fire and ice. She was fire and he was ice. She could almost feel the steam rising up from them as the air sizzled.  
Then he pulled away as if scalded.  
Her eyes opened as she found him acting just like one would if they’d touched something hot with their tongue, as he waved at the appendage, while making a squeaky pained sound.  
“What’s wrong?”  
He covered his mouth as he continued to wince for a moment, then groaned through the pain, “Do you brush with peppermint?”  
“Yeah, why?”  
He went over to the sink as he started to wash out his mouth with water. When he’d relaxed he explained, “Peppermint is like another garlic to us,” at her confused look he explained, “It burns us.”  
Her eyes went wide as she realized what he meant, “But I used it this morning. That was hours ago. It can’t possibly still be on my mouth.”  
“Have you eaten anything since eating? Or drank anything?”  
She thought about it then shook her head.  
“Then you haven’t done enough to wash it out.”  
She was about to question his reasoning when he realized something, “Wait, you haven’t eaten since this morning?”  
She shook her head.  
“You must be starving.”  
“Not really.”  
He didn’t hear or accept her answer as he grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the bathroom. There was a man in the hall when they came out. When he saw what a rush they were in as they came out of the bathroom he called after them with a stupid grin, “Yah, way to go man!”  
Kyle looked back at the stranger as she turned called to Judah, “Do you know that guy?”  
“No. He’s just some weirdo.”  
Outside Judah hailed a taxi. Inside he directed it to take them to the richer part of town. When Kyle got out she found herself standing in front of a five star restaurant.  
She looked back to Judah as he came up behind her, “Why are we here?”  
“To eat.”  
She pressed her lips together as she gave him a quick once over with his faded jeans and old T. She knew she wasn’t dressed any more extravagantly, but she wouldn’t even attempt to get into a restaurant like this in her best finery. Even if she’d wanted to there was no way she could ever afford it.   
Judah didn’t look to think of any of that as he led the way inside where he approached the hostess stand. She asked if he had a reservation.  
“No,” Kyle turned to go, “But,” she paused to look back as he pulled out the golden key. As soon she saw it she grabbed two menus and told him to follow her.  
Kyle stared at Judah as he slid the key back into his pocket. On seeing her expression he grinned like a proud child, “I told you. This key opens any door.”  
The whole restaurant oozed money, but no place more than the balcony where they were seated. They looked like two rotten teeth in an otherwise perfect mouth among the rest of the guests but Judah didn’t look fazed by this as he picked up the menu.  
“Are you sure you want to eat here?”  
He lowered the menu as he gave her a confused head tilt, “Why not? Do you have something against this place?”  
“No. I’ve only heard good things about it. But I’ve also heard how expensive just getting a salad here is.”  
Her words amused him as he laughed lightly, “Don’t worry about that. Like I’ve told you, I used to be rich. And just because I changed personas since then doesn’t mean I don’t still have control of those funds.”  
She thought for a moment about how long he’d been alive. With all his years working, plus the yo-yo business...She leaned forward, “What would you say your net worth is?”  
His grin was mischievous, “Is it that important for you to know? Would it change things?” His eye brows rose with playful curiosity.  
She didn’t have to think about it as she leaned back, lifting the menu up to her eyes.  
“It wouldn’t.”  
Over the top of the menu she saw him smile as if her answer gave him great joy.  
Returning her eyes to the menu she found herself dazed at all the different words that were completely unfamiliar to her. When the waiter came Judah ordered like an old pro. When the man turned to her she felt like a child learning to talk as she stumbled over her words.  
“I want the…no wait…is this…what is this?”  
Judah leaned his chin on his fist as he watched her with an amused expression, “Did you want me to order for you?”  
She let out a distraught sigh but handed over the menu as she nodded her head.   
Once the waiter was gone, the strangeness of the whole interaction hit her as she said, “Wait, you said anemics don’t eat.”  
“We don’t need to. But we can. And it’s nice to savor something other than blood every now and then.”  
“What is it like drinking blood? I mean, how do you do it?”  
His shoulders bobbed, “I don’t know the science behind it, but it’s basically how they depict it in the shows. We pierce the neck with our fangs then suck the blood from the wound.”  
“But you don’t have fangs.”  
“They only come out when we’re about to feed.”  
“How often is that?”  
“Depending on how much energy one expends on a daily basis you can require as much as three meals a day. Some can get by with two. Then there are your gluttons.”  
“And where do you get your blood?”  
“We have connections. Donations. Stuff like that.”  
She rested the side of her head against her fist as she studied him for a moment, “Do you like it?”  
“What?”  
“Drinking blood?”  
He thought for a moment, “It’s also like eating. Sometimes you’re really hungry so you gorge yourself a little and don’t really taste the food. Other times it’s an experience, like when you taste your favorite meal.”  
“Does blood taste different from person to person?”  
“It more depends on the vampire. Some prefer blood high in iron. Others prefer specific blood types.”  
“And you?”  
He looked hesitant as he thoughtfully rubbed his fingers over his lips.  
“Is it like with a shark? Can you smell blood? Does it drive you mad?”  
“Does it drive you mad when you smell a cheeseburger?”  
“Not me, but others, yes.”  
He laughed, “Yes, I can smell blood. But only in large amounts. Like how you can’t smell a small amount of food unless it’s really strong. And it only drives me “mad” if I’m really hungry. But I’ve never let that hunger drive me to completely draining someone.”  
She frowned as she remembered the young woman, “Is that a common practice among vampires?”  
He shook his head, “Not in a long time. Only psychopaths drain their meals.” He bit his bottom lip as he realized how that must sound, “their victims,” that made him cringe even more.  
“But doesn’t leaving them alive when you’ve eaten cause them turn?”  
He shook his head, “They have to be bitten by an anemic and then drink the blood of an anemic to change.”  
“Anemics have blood?”  
“Yes, but they can’t produce their own. That’s why they have to take it from others. It’s like how we replenish and refresh it. If we don’t our blood goes bad and we get sick.”  
“When was the last time you ate?”  
“I also just ate this morning.”  
“Are you going to get something here?”  
He puffed out his cheeks as he let out a breath of air, an expression that showed his discomfort at the question, as he looked around the room, “I just ordered the super rare stake. That should do me for now.”  
“You didn’t answer me earlier. What’s your favorite type of blood? Do some only prefer animal blood?”  
“Yes.” He wasn’t looking at her anymore as he licked his lips nervously.  
“If you have a preferred type, like a lot iron, or type B, how do you know which person has what you like?”  
“You don’t. Just like you don’t know if the burger you get at Joe’s burgers is going to be as good as Stan’s burgers. You don’t know until you bite into it.”  
She frowned, “You can tell a little by the look and smell.”  
She didn’t know why he was so agitated. Was it low blood sugar from not having eaten in a while?  
He had been jittery up till then but at this he became calm as his eyes took on a distant expression, “You can’t smell it, but anemics have slightly enhanced senses. It’s a predators sense that allows us know which person will be the best fit for our needs. We may not “know” that they are the right blood type, but we can feel that what’s in them is something we need. Like how when you’re low on sodium you crave salty foods.”  
His answer didn’t contain anything terrible to be nervous about. And yet he was still so agitated.  
“What are you not saying?”  
“It’s not what I’m not saying, it’s what I’m afraid you’ll say next.”  
He looked so pained she couldn’t understand what he thought she’d say. Then she realized the obvious follow up to her line of questioning.  
“Do you sense that I could be your next meal?”  
He closed his eyes, swallowing, as everything in him conveyed complete dread.  
Now that she’d said it she knew what conclusion he feared she’d make next. That the only reason he’d hung around was because he was hungry for her. Like how she kept around a box of chocolates for when that time came around and she needed something sweet.  
Though she really didn’t want to ask, either because of the pain it would cause him, or the answer it would get her, she asked anyway, “Why are you sticking around me?”  
His eyes came open then and in that moment she saw it, the animal beneath the surface.  
“You know why.”


	17. Chapter 17

The animal was gone as quick as it had come as his expression broke into a bright smile.  
“Because I like you.”  
Again she was hit with the complete honesty in his answer. He was like a child confessing his feelings, so sincere as he held nothing back.  
“But why?”  
She couldn’t bring herself to ask if it had something to do with her blood. She could not bear the answer.  
He reassured her anyway, as he said, “It’s not because I see you as some walking blood bag.”  
She winced at her own words.  
Seeing the pain he apologized with his eyes before adjusting his position in his chair, “I hate to say it like this, but like with Rachel, I see life in you.”  
She frowned at the mention of the other woman, but moved past it as she asked, “Are you sure you’re not just seeing what you want to again?”  
He shook his head, looking completely sure, as he told her, “I know what it looks like now. Your life is real.”  
“Is that possibly because I’m a human and not anemic like you and Rachel?”  
He laughed, “It might be part of it. But I’ve encountered several humans who haven’t had the spark that’s inside you. They’ve lost your will to live, your will to survive, no matter what life throws your way. Even if you were changed tomorrow, I don’t think you’d ever lose that spark. It’s something that can’t be extinguished, even by death.”  
His expression was so serious she couldn’t bear to look at him. The waiter came over then and she kept her eyes on him as he set down their plates of food. After that they ate in silence but still she felt his eyes watching her.   
Her face felt hot under intense gaze. She expected to feel like a lamb under the scrutiny of a predator, but this was something different. Something other than hunger.  
When she finally lifted her eyes from the plate she found herself locked into his gaze. It was like he was peering into her soul, tearing away every level of armor that protected her from the outside world. She wanted to yell for him to stop but when she remained silent she realized she did not want to fight it.   
As soon as she decided this it was like she was transported to another place. There they were alone as he slid his hands along her shoulders, gently caressing her skin so that it tingled under his light touch. His fingers were graceful like a piano players as he knew just where to go.   
Though he had no breathe he exhaled, his chest quivering with the sound. When the longing in it reached her ears she felt her body shiver as she filled the air with her own breath.  
“Will that be all?”  
The waiter’s voice brought her back as her eyes darted around the room. She was back in the restaurant. In front of her Judah’s ears were red as if he’d also been transported to the other place. Was it just something she’d imagined, or had he actually done something?  
She waited until they were outside the restaurant before confronting him.  
“What was that back there?”  
He gave her an innocent look of confusion, but she was not going to let this go.  
“Before the waiter came, what did you do to me?”  
“Did I do something?”  
He genuinely sounded confused as he asked her what had happened.  
“When I looked into your eyes you transported us to another place?”  
He started to laugh, “Wow, I didn’t know I could do that. Where did I take us?”  
She felt her own ears go red as she recalled snatches of the memory. “It wasn’t really a place. It was a…” she found herself struggling for words. How did she describe it without saying too much? “Oh you know, you were the one that took us there.”  
“I told you, anemics don’t have super powers. We’re just like humans.”  
“Then what was that?”  
“I don’t know. I don’t know what you saw.” He scratched at his neck before shrugging his hands, “Sorry.”  
Kyle was sure now that she was losing her mind. What had that been? And why had it felt so…real? She moved in closer as she inspected Judah’s face more closely, looking for any signs of dishonesty.  
“If you weren’t there, why were your ears red when the waiter came over? They wouldn’t have been like that if you hadn’t been there too.”  
His lips press together as his eyes went round, “Do you mean you pictured us…together?”  
“Yes. Because you put that image in my mind.”  
His head shook slowly, “That wasn’t me.”  
“Then what was it?”  
“Have you never undressed someone with your eyes?”  
“Do what?”  
“Where you imagine what it would look like, feel like, if you were together?”  
“No. Have you?”  
His cheeks puffed out slightly as his eyes moved away making it look like he didn’t want to answer.  
She shoved him back, “Was what happened you or not? I don’t understand.”  
Whatever he was about to say caused him great effort as he tried to find just the right words. For a moment he was like a silent mime as he clenched and unclenched his fists. His cheeks would puff out before he’d take in a breath as he opened his mouth to speak but nothing would come out as he again closed his mouth and puffed out his cheeks.   
Eventually he opened his mouth and words came out in the form of a question, “Did you not experience anything like that with your last boyfriend?”  
“What boyfriend?”  
He lost focus again as his hand paused in the air while his face went completely blank.  
“Girlfriend?”  
She shook her head, “Never had either. Haven’t ever felt the urge to date. I was focused on school and then work.”  
“And you never went out with anyone?”  
She remembered Titus who’d bugged her to accompany him to various activities, “I’ve been on dates. But I’ve never dated anyone.”  
“And when you were together you never felt the urge to hold their hand. You never stared into their eyes and had the desire to kiss them?”  
“Uh, no. Why would I do any of those things?”  
His eyes went wide as a realization hit him, “So I’m your first.”  
He sounded so excited as his face lit up.  
“First what?”  
“First person you wanted to kiss.”  
She felt her own eyes go round as she turned them away from his glowing face, “I guess so.”  
“Wow. I’ve never been anyone’s first. Cole had changed several people before me and Rachel had dated tons before we met.”  
“Then I guess I’m not your first.”  
She didn’t know why it disappointed her to say this. But what did she expect? Not everyone was as slow a starter as her when it came to relationships. She had always been so single minded, she’d never considered she might regret it later. Not that she did, no one had ever caught her eye enough to divert her attention from her goals. And if they hadn’t that just told her they wouldn’t have been worth the pit stop.  
Kyle didn’t notice that Judah’s face was red until she lost focus on her own situation and focused on him.  
“What?”  
“Well, of course I’ve kissed others. I was alive for over five hundred years. But I,” he started to play with the cuff of his sleeves as he pushed them up then twisted them back and forth on his forearm, “I never did. Anything. More.”  
He really looked like a little boy then as he shyly peered at her with his wide eyes.  
Her gaze was skeptical, “Not ever?”  
He rubbed the side of his arm nervously even as his other hand continued to clutch his sleeve, “I was a good Catholic boy. Though I was little when my mom died I remembered everything she’d taught me about relationships. It was so ingrained it never even crossed my mind to do anything more.”  
“That can’t be true.”  
Her pushing put him on the defense as he countered, “Hey, you never did anything either, right?”  
“Yes, but not because of religious conviction. I just had other things to occupy my time.”  
“And so did I. There was a whole wide world out there to explore.”  
“But you never explored…women?”  
She folded her arms, telling him with her body language that she was extremely skeptical.  
He looked disappointed as his face glowed red, “No. Not ever. I almost got married once, but she turned out to have rabies.”  
“Really? Why did that prevent you?”  
Seeing her confusion he clarified, “Werewolf. She was just with me as a way to get close to the key holders. I found out just in time to sever things with her.”  
“You really are a bad judge of character.”  
He nodded, “I know. But I’ve grown a lot since then. And it was a long time ago that I mistook Rachel for having a soul. I know better now.”  
Hearing Rachel’s name made the hair on the back of her neck stand up, even more so when she recalled just how handsy the woman had been with her. Her skeptical pose resumed, as she asked, “And she never tried anything?”  
“We came close. Once. But then Pearl Harbor happened and the ship we were on sunk.”  
“That was a while ago.”  
“Trust me, ocean water is good about putting cooling even those flames.”  
She frowned, not really caring to know the details.  
Going back to the thing that had started it all she asked, “Now what?”  
He looked thoughtful before giving her a confused look as to what she was referring to.  
“When you experience the eye dressing what usually comes after?”  
His face froze like a computer experiencing an error message.  
“Judah?”  
A blink brought on a reboot, “Do you really not know?”  
She stopped to think over all the things she’d read and watched. In movies after two people kissed there was usually crying, a shared goodbye, and then the man flying off into the sunset as he was killed in an explosion, or buried under several feet of ice.   
But if that was what was supposed to come next for them she couldn’t bring herself to let it happen. As if to express her subconscious resolve she took a hold of his wrinkled sleeve.   
He looked at her hand with a brief eyebrow twitch of confusion.  
“Do you have to leave?”  
Her voice sounded strangely tight as she gripped his sleeve more firmly so that the skin under began to wrinkle.  
“I don’t have to go anywhere if you don’t want me to. If this is what you want.”  
“I don’t want you to go.”  
His free hand came over to rest on top of hers. He squeezed it lightly as he gave her a reassuring smile.  
“Then I won’t.”  
Her body was tingling as he gazed into her eyes. Then she felt that overwhelming urge again as she leaned over and kissed him. This time there was no burning peppermint to stop them, just fire and ice.


	18. Chapter 18

“You look…different this morning.”  
Kyle kept her face calm and collected as she turned back to look at Officer Henshaw.  
“How’s that?”  
“It’s like you’re glowing. Did something good happen yesterday?”  
“Even if something did happen, it’s none of your business.  
She turned back as she continued down the hall. Behind her she heard Henshaw make a remark but he didn’t care enough to listen. Not today. Not ever.  
Chief Arin was the next one to encounter her as he gave her a curious once over, “Is something different about you? Did you get a haircut?”  
She shook her head, “Haven’t had the time. But I need to.”  
“Why don’t you take off at lunch and go have some time to yourself. I’m sure things can run for a few hours without you around.”  
“Thank you, sir.”  
Out of nowhere Henshaw burst between them as he pointed at her face, “Ah ha, that’s it. That’s what’s different.”  
She moved back from him, giving him narrowed eyes and a cold frown.  
“Officer Henshaw, what are you doing?” inquired Chief Arin.  
“Her lips,” continued Henshaw, unaware of the growing frowns on the other two’s faces, “She’s wearing lipstick.”  
Kyle let out a tired sigh as her eyes rolled for half a turn, “It’s not lipstick. It’s lip balm with a hint of color.”  
“And why are you wearing that today? Huh?”  
Chief Arin made an authoritative clearing of the throat before reminding Henshaw, “Why a woman wears lip balm is none of your business, Officer. I suggest you get back to your duties, or I’m going to sign you up for a workplace etiquette refresher course.”  
Kyle continued away as Henshaw made grumbling sounds under his breath. In her office she pulled out a mirror to check her mouth. Was it really that big of change? In her reflection she noted her bangs hanging down in her eyes. Perhaps she should see the hairstylist today. They didn’t have that many cases.  
Putting on her lab coat she headed into the morgue where a new body was being prepped by her assistant.  
“Have you started yet?”  
“I just finished washing the body.”  
She put on her gloves then did a once over with her hands and eyes. She started with the scalp, moving down the hair line. Her eyes didn’t travel much further than that as she saw the two marks on the neck. There was no mistaking it, they were the same marks as that first body, the one that had sent Detective Titus on the case that had killed him.  
Her assistant asked what was wrong as she started to frantically search the body for any other clues. She barely registered him as she finished with the body and moved onto the belongings.   
As she shook out the pants something heavy fell from the pocket into the tray. The flash of light just registered in her mind as she looked down to see it: a golden key.


	19. Chapter 19

The report on the gold key came in and Kyle practically snatched it out of Officer Henshaw’s hands.  
“Woah, calm down.” Though the words were used to convey annoyance his tone was gentle as if he were handling her with kid gloves. She did not understand until her eyes came to rest on the only thing found on the key.  
Finger prints. Results show them as belonging to Detective Titus Goncalves.  
The sounds around her grew dim as she struggled to understand what this meant.  
“The key.” She voiced the words slowly as her mind worked to catch up with her mouth, “The key was the same one. The one Titus was investigating.”  
“It would appear so.”  
What did this mean?  
“Who was the woman found? Did she have any connection to Titus? Is there any known reason why she would have the key?”  
He shook his head, “When we found it we asked and no one who knew her ever remembered seeing it. And as you’ll see in the report no one else’s prints are on it but his own. The key was in her pocket so if her prints weren’t on it…”  
“The key was put there on purpose.”  
What did this mean? Had the killer found out she was investigating? Was this his way of warning her to back off: “Or you’ll end up like Detective Titus.”  
“Does this mean we can reopen the case?” Henshaw seemed confused by her question so she restated it, “Since we see now that the key wasn’t lost somewhere, but was purposefully taken, it can only mean that the person who killed him was the owner.”  
“If that were true why would they leave it on another body? Are you trying to say it’s their MO?”  
“No. I think the first time was an accident. But this time was a warning.”  
“A warning of what.”  
She left him to figure it out himself as she headed off to the Chief’s office. He was on the phone but she couldn’t stop herself from interrupting him as she said, “I need to talk to you.”  
He held his hand over the receiver, “Can’t this wait?”  
“No.”  
He let out a tired sigh then told the person on the other line, “I’m going to have to call you back.”  
As soon as the phone was down she told him about the key and all they’d found so far.  
“We need to reopen the case. It wasn’t some other case that killed him it was this one. And the key wasn’t stolen it was taken by the owner and placed on this body as a taunt.”  
“A taunt of what?”  
Kyle remembered Judah’s warning about the key holders, “That no matter what we do we’ll never catch him.”  
Chief Arin frowned, “And why would they think that?”  
“Why wouldn’t they? It’s been a year since Detective Goncalves was killed and no one has been brought in. The golden key case was never even considered to be the reason behind his death. They got off scot-free before and they don’t think now will be any different.”  
Arin held out his hand, “Let me see the file.”  
His frown deepened as he read her newest coroner’s report along with the report on the key.  
“And everything about this case is the same as the one Detective Goncalves was investigating.”  
“Exactly the same. No signs of sexual assault. No signs of struggle. It was almost like they’d let the punctures and the draining happen. And by the time they realized they were dying it was too late, they’d lost too much blood to fight back.”  
Arin rubbed his eyes as if struggling to take it all in, “Okay. We’ll reopen the case.”  
“Thank you, sir.”  
“But Janaskie, I don’t want you doing any of your own investigating.”  
“Sir?”  
“I know how close you are to this case. I don’t know who this golden key killer’s message was for. Whether he’s just making a general declaration to the precinct or if he’s targeting you specifically. I don’t need you putting yourself in any undue danger. Leave the rest of this up to the rest of the force.”  
Kyle could feel her anger rising, as she asked through tight lips, “You mean like Officer Henshaw who couldn’t find his way out of a paper bag with a map and compass.”  
Arin exhaled heavily, “It won’t solely rest on Henshaw. And the other officers are good at their jobs. Don’t worry, I’ll put my best men on this. Detective Goncalves was one of our own, we’re not going to take this lying down.”  
Kyle wanted to argue that they had last time. That not much had changed between this time and last. All that had happened was the golden key holder had reminded them how piss poor a job they’d done last time. What was to say they wouldn’t do just as bad this time?  
No, if Titus was going to be avenged she was going to have to take matters into her own hands. She would promise Chief Arin that she wouldn’t work the case, but as Judah had reminded her she was live and to live meant to lie. And that was exactly what she was going to do.


	20. Chapter 20

The bass throbbed as she entered the club. Taylor Swift’s Ready For It was starting to play as she headed through the mess of bodies. The lyrics of the song made her think of Judah and what could be, but she had to ignore all that for now. Something else was pressing on her.  
The bouncer at the VIP cut off recognized her as he let her back. Judah was in the back stretched out on the seat with no one else to keep him company.  
“Is it always this dead back here?”  
She could see him smile, “You know how it is with vampires.”  
Outside she could still hear the song, “In the middle of the night…” as Judah lifted his head to look at her. As he rested his chin on his fist she found her mind losing focus as she forgot why she was there. Then she caught sight of his golden key on the table.  
We’re all just wild animals deep down. No matter how gentle we may seem.  
“Judah, he’s back.”  
Seeing the pain in her face he sat up. His expression showed concern, “Who’s back?”  
“The one who killed Titus. He’s killed again and he left his key as a calling card.”  
Again he wore that frown that looked so out of place on his usually peaceful face, “Are you sure?”  
“It had Titus’s prints on it. And his were the only ones on it. Whoever killed him planted it on the newest body as a taunt.”  
Again she felt the anger rise up at the injustice as she clenched her fists at her sides.  
“I’m not going to let him get away this time. I don’t care what happens to me. I’m going to find him and I’m going to make him pay.”  
Judah was in front of her in three quick steps. His colds hands barely cooled the fire in her as he placed them on her arms.  
“Kyle, don’t say that. I won’t let you get hurt.”  
“We have to catch him, Judah. We can’t let him kill again.”  
He nodded, “Come on.”  
Taking her hand he led her out of the club. Another song was playing by then but she could still hear the lyrics to the first song. If things were different she could indulge in the feelings the words had evoked. But events were not conducive to an island get away or a passionate romance. If this story was going anywhere it was rushing towards a tragedy.


	21. Chapter 21

Judah took Kyle to Cole’s club.   
The place was even more packed than the last time and back room was just as filled with bodies as before. Kyle was relieved when her cursory glance of the room found no Rachel.  
Cole had a different lady nibbling on his ear as he grinned with a dark pleasure to his features. As soon as he saw Judah he pushed the woman away and leaned forward.  
“And what brings my favorite charge back to my humble lair so soon after his last visit?”  
“We’ve got trouble,” Judah glanced at the group of humans, “I need to talk to you in private.”  
This time when Cole led him away Judah kept a firm hold on Kyle’s hand. The hall they had disappeared down last time led to a backroom which was lavishly decorated like some kind of Arabian prince’s bedroom. There was a desk to the side and it was to this that Cole led them as he sat down behind it.  
“What’s the problem?”  
“I told you about the golden key that was found on a dead human.” Cole nodded, “It’s popped up again on another dead body. And this time it looks like it was left on purpose.”  
The man frowned as folded his hands together before resting them against his mouth in a thoughtful manner, “This isn’t good. If he’s striking like this it means he’s become arrogant. And if that’s the case—.”  
Kyle’s eyes widened as she realized where he was going, “He’s done this before. More than twice.”  
Cole nodded, “And if he hasn’t been caught…”  
Judah frowned, “He thinks he’s invincible now.”  
“Especially since he is a golden key holder. Even if we do catch the owner it’s going to be hard to convict them. And the humans won’t be able to touch him at all,” Cole glanced at Kyle as he said this.  
“I don’t care,” was her firm reply, “I’m going to catch him, and regardless of your laws, I’m going to make him pay for what he’s done.”  
Cole’s expression became amused as he looked to Judah, “I can see why you like her. She is full of life. A rare find, even among humans.”  
Judah bowed his head in recognition of his sire’s praise. “But how are we going to find out which holder is the killer? It would be simple enough to ask to see their keys, but if they find out the reason behind our question they might be offended and not help us when the time comes to convict.”  
“That could happen. But I think we’re going to have to make an attempt at it anyway. And we can start with me.”  
Cole opened a drawer from which he pulled his key. When he had set it on the desk Judah reached into his pocket and set his down as well.  
“So that’s two,” stated Cole, “There are just three others. They don’t all live here, but do travel here a lot. That could be why you’ve only found the two bodies, because they do most of their killing elsewhere.”  
To speed things up Cole video called the three men, putting them on a conference call.  
“Morning, Derringer,” greeted one of the men with a thick accent, “What’s this all about?”  
“Judah and I are here with our keys,” he moved the camera so they could see their keys, “Another golden key has been found at a crime scene and we were hoping everyone would present their keys to help clear things up.”  
One man grumbled, voicing his inability to understand why they would think any of them would commit a crime.  
“Just show it, Edgar,” stated the man with the accent, “At least Derringer came out with his reason for wanting to see the keys, instead of making up some lame excuse like you did back in ‘49 when you were trying to assess who was having an affair with your mistress.”  
Edgar harrumphed but in the end he showed his key. The other two held theirs up to the screen as well.  
Kyle felt her heart drop as soon as she saw the final key, “Are you sure there aren’t any extras? That no copies were made?”  
“Benjamin was the one that had the keys commissioned but he’s not the one that made them. The exact details in the key were all designed by a human.”  
Kyle knew what Judah meant without him saying it. The ability to make a copy of the key had died with the one who had made it.   
As Derringer thanked the men for their help and asked them about what they were up to her eyes dropped to the keys immediately in front of her. She was only half listening to the exchange of words as she studied the intricate patterns. For a full year she had studied the crime scene photos of the object and had come to know it better than the back of her hand.   
Before Cole and Judah could take their keys back she noticed something was off.  
“Wait.”  
They paused as she picked up both keys, holding them together as she inspected them. Then her eyes saw it.  
Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Cole, “This key is different.”  
His eyebrow arched.  
“What is it?” asked Judah, a strain in his voice.  
She showed him the two keys as she pointed out the difference in Cole’s key, “This here. There is no emerald here like on yours. But the other keys of the holders had that same jewel.”  
Her eyes went back to Cole, the question hot in her eyes.  
Instead of looking upset he laughed, “We’ve all had these keys so long I barely cast mine a second glance. I’ve started to forget what it even forgets like. You know how you do with a family member who you see every day. But,” he reached out as he took his key back from Judah, “If you will remember, Judah, I lost the emerald here when that blasted Oil Tycoon shot me in a duel.” He snorted at the memory, “The audacity of him.”  
Judah’s eyes widened at the memory, “That’s right,” he looked back to Kyle as he assured her, “We looked for it, but it was impossible to find. Cole decided to leave the space open as a reminder never to trust left handed businessmen.”  
“But since I don’t even remember what the key looks like I wouldn’t recall the significance of the space,” stated Cole with a good natured laugh, “That’s why I’ve trusted several more left handed business men; to my detriment.”  
Kyle was still frowning as the men returned the keys to their pockets and desk drawers. But she knew if that was the only difference it did not prove anything.   
With a thanks to Cole Judah rose signaling to Kyle it was time to go.  
Her body was on autopilot the whole way out of the club as she considered everything Before she knew it they were at his apartment. Though he’d chosen to live a simpler life, his apartment was way nicer than anything most people could afford.   
She did not take the time to admire it as she asked him, “Can I see your key?”  
He handed it over without question as he headed into the kitchen to put something together for them to eat. He had food in the fridge for the rare occasions he felt like tasting food. He used that food to prepare her something almost as fancy as what she’d eaten at the restaurant. But she did not notice the flavors as she ran her eyes over the metal object. She studied each intricate detail like a road map, ran her fingers over each groove, and at one point even sniffed at it.  
Judah laughed when he saw her do that, “You seeing if my scent has rubbed off on it?”  
She knew he was only joking but something in his words pricked her mind as she turned to face him, “Could you smell who has touched the key? If they’d had it long enough couldn’t their scent be strong enough that you could recognize it?”  
He took her hand in his, covering both her hands and the key in his hold, “I wish that was the case. But again, we’re not anything special. And haven’t your techs already tested the key with all their advanced technology?”  
She sighed as she let their hands drop into her lap, “But they didn’t find anything.”  
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what this means that all the keys are accounted for. Do you think someone stole the one in lock up and returned it to the real owner?”  
“I thought of that. But when I texted Henshaw he said that the key was still there. I made him check and he took a photo to prove it.”  
She held up the screen so that he could see. He obliged her by looking at the image even though he knew what the key looked like. But when he hadn’t looked away she asked him what was wrong.  
“There’s just something off about this photo. I can’t put my finger on it.”  
Turning the phone so they could see it together she zoomed in and started to slowly scroll over the image as they studied it inch by inch. Finally Judah called for her to stop as he pointed at small silver on the screen.  
“There. That’s what’s wrong.”  
“What is it?”  
“See Henshaw’s face reflected in that sliver.”  
She looked closer and saw his face.  
“Yeah. What about it?”  
“I shouldn’t be able to see his face in that.”  
“Why?”  
“Because it’s supposed to be a mirror.”  
She looked at him like he’d said something unintelligible. Because he had.  
Trying to get her to catch up on her own he asked her, “Remember when this was made?”  
“Back in the 1700s.”  
“And what were mirrors backed with then?”  
Her eyes widened, “Silver! But wait, what does that have to do with Henshaw?”  
“He’s a vampire. And if I can see him in this tiny mirror that means this key isn’t real. t’s a replica.”  
“Wait, Henshaw is a vampire?”  
He nodded, “Did I not tell you that? I didn’t know until I showed him my key when I was in lock up. After that he took me to your Chief and everything was cleared up.”  
“Wait, he took you to Chief Arin?”  
“You didn’t know he was a vampire either?”  
She let out a frustrated sigh, “I haven’t known about vampires that long.”  
“Right, sorry.”  
She frowned as she realized now why Arin had so easily let Detective Goncalves’ case go under the radar. He was just another vampire covering up for his kind. The fact made her angry, but she had other things to focus on.  
“What does this mean for the key to be a fake? Other than that Henshaw and my boss are both blood suckers.”  
He frowned at her choice in words but moved on, “Whoever made this key didn’t know about the true purpose of the key.”  
She extended her hand to him like “don’t make me wait for the answer, give it to me now.”  
“Okay, so when Benjamin designed the key, he had the designer make them really elaborate in order that the uninitiated would not notice the little mirrors. Only those in the know use the mirrors in the key to check for a reflection. At the time there were several humans who tried to sneak into the inner circle, but when the keys showed their reflection they were known to be fakes.”  
“But wouldn’t all the vampires know. And couldn’t some of them sell knock offs to the humans with special glass that wouldn’t show their reflection?”  
He shook his head, “No. Because it was only the five key holders who knew the secret of the mirrors. All the other vampires made their own keys, but they didn’t know that it was the five that had special keys which they would present at meetings to check that everyone there was vampires. We don’t do it so much now, but the secret of the silver mirrors is still a closely guarded secret among the five.”  
“So whoever made this key had access to a golden key so that they could make an identical copy, but did not know enough to add the silver backed mirrors.”  
“Especially now that mirrors aren’t made with silver anymore. They wouldn’t think to add it to the backs.”  
Kyle sat back on the couch as everything they’d learned hit her, “But how does this help us?”  
“It helps us a lot. Like you said, whoever made this key had access to an original. There aren’t many who are close enough with a holder to be able to spend that much time with the keys. They are only brought out briefly at meetings and no one but the holder ever holds them.”  
“But Cole kept his key in a desk drawer. Couldn’t someone have taken the key out of there and copied it? And the same could have been done with the others. It could be anyone within the five’s inner circle.”  
“Yeah, but…Cole is the only one I know who doesn’t keep his key on him. He doesn’t like the lines it puts in his clothes,” at her frown he admitted, “He’s very vain. He won’t even carry a phone because of its outline. He makes Rachel keep all his things in her purse.”  
Kyle’s body went rigid at the woman’s name, but for a different reason than usual, “Even his golden key?”  
Judah went pale, “Yeah, I think so. I think I recall her handing him the key at a meeting thirty years ago. I thought it was weird, but he’d always trusted her with a great deal. She was his first sire after all.”  
Dismissing all the implications that entailed, Kyle focused on what was actually important, “She could have had enough access to copy the key and would not have had a knowledge about the mirrors.”  
He nodded, his face still unusually pale, “But why would she have done this? Why would she completely drain them?”  
Kyle shook her head, “I’ve never been able to understand the mind of a criminal.”  
Rachel’s words came to her again, “We’re all just wild animals deep down. No matter how gentle we may seem.”  
“But I think Rachel does.”


	22. Chapter 22

The club was already closed by the time they got back. Without anyone to impede them they headed straight back to Cole’s office/bedroom. Judah knocked to be polite but opened the door without waiting for an answer. Kyle heard him choke out a gasp before she stepped in after him to see the scene that had caused the reaction.  
There was Rachel’s body sitting at Cole’s desk with a stake through her heart. Kyle didn’t have to be told to know that she was dead, permanently.  
“What is this?” asked Judah as he stared at the body in horror, “How did this happen? Who did it?”  
Stepping up to her his eyes widened when he found a page set in front of her. “It’s a suicide note.”  
“Is it possible for a vampire to kill themselves like that?”  
He looked saddened as he nodded, “I’ve seen it happen up close.” Looking down at the paper he started to read it aloud, “I’m sorry, Judah, I know this will come as a shock to you when you find me, but it was the only solution I could think of. I heard from Cole how you’d asked to see the key and I knew it was just a matter of time before you realized the one in police custody was a fake. I’m not confident enough in my copier’s abilities to think he got all that damn key’s intricate details right. And once you figure out it is a fake I know it will lead you back to me. You’re the only one who knows how much Cole trusts me with his things, including his key. I know as his aid I could get away with the crime’s I’ve committed, but I don’t think I want to anymore. Judah, I’m scared. The hunger gets worse and worse each day. I’m going rancid and no matter how much I eat I can’t stop. This is no life. That’s why I’m choosing to end things before they get any worse. I hope in your own way you can forgive me someday. I know I’ll never be able to forgive myself.”  
He lowered the note at its end, his eyes filled with pain as he looked across the room into Kyle’s eyes.  
“I can’t believe she did this.”  
Kyle stepped over taking a hold of him as he cried into her shoulder.   
The case was finally finished, the criminal caught, but Kyle felt nothing. How could she when the one she cared about was in pain? Rachel might have been an old flame but to him she’d always be someone he’d seen potential for good in. Now that potential was forever extinguished and all that was left was a legacy of pain.


	23. Chapter 23

“You look different today.”  
Kyle groaned as she turned to glare at Henshaw, “Enough with that.”  
“Oh, I know what it is. You have bags under your eyes.”  
Her eyes flashed as she turned them on full blast at him, “Keep making note about my appearance and I’m going to introduce you to my Buffy the Vampire Slayer impression.”  
He looked stunned as he watched her walk away.  
Down in the morgue she let out a long yawn as she pulled on her lab coat.  
“Morning, Doctor.”  
She covered a second yawn as she greeted her assistant back, “Jeffrey.”  
“I got the results back on that substance under the nails.”  
She took the file as she flipped to the page containing the information, “What case is this for again?”  
“The Jane Doe that had been exsanguinated.”  
She looked up from the page, “There was a substance under her nails?”  
“Yeah, I find it when I was cleaning her before you came in to do the autopsy. Did I not say anything?”  
Her mouth was tight as she looked back at the file. The substance contained traces of phenethylamine alkaloids which were known to act as a central nervous system stimulant. If they were found under the nails but not in the body that mean that the victim had touched something that had contained traces of it.   
Kyle’s mind raced over all the things she knew phenethylamine alkaloids to be found in. Then her mind clicked as she recalled something Judah had mentioned.   
Jeffrey called out after her as she threw the file on the table before rushing out of the room.


	24. Chapter 24

Judah wasn’t home when she entered his apartment. He hadn’t been at work either and when she’d called his phone she’d got his voicemail.  
“Where are you?”  
“Are you looking for me?”  
The voice startled her as she turned back to find Cole leaning on the door frame of Judah’s bedroom.   
“Cole, what are you doing here?”  
“I came here to console my sire. I know how hard Rachel’s death is hitting him. All three of us were very close.”  
She could feel her heart racing in her chest but kept her tone and expression as neutral as ever while she nodded in understanding, “He told me.”  
Cole let out a long sigh as if it broke his heart to think about her, “It’s so sad when such a bright light is taken from us so soon.”  
“I know. I think that a lot in my line of work. Those poor girls. I can’t imagine the terror they must have experienced when they were drained.”  
He frowned, “Oh no, the draining process is very painless, like falling off to sleep.”  
“I’ll have to take your word for it.”  
“I could demonstrate,” Cole stepped towards her even as her body instinctively moved back.  
“I think I’ll pass.”  
He chuckled as he continued to move towards her. She edge back, running into the coach as she started to sidle along it.  
His eyes lit up as an idea came to him, “Oh, are you waiting to experience it with Judah? That will be special. At least for you. For him he’s drained thousands before. Young, old, male, female. Sometimes whole families.”  
Kyle swallowed down her rising panic as she edged along the kitchen counter as Cole followed her into the next room.   
We’re all just wild animals deep down. No matter how gentle we may seem.  
Kyle refused to believe that these words applied to Judah, but she had no doubt in her mind they perfectly fit the man before her.  
“I don’t know if I believe that. Judah told me you once took him to a sweat lodge and when the peyote came around he turned it down.”  
Cole laughed at the memory, “Yeah, that Catholic heritage is really ingrained in him. Even when I insisted that it was just another way of worshipping he declined. I guess he’s always been a little uptight.”  
She tried not to look at the door too much but half her focus was on it while the rest was trained on Cole as he continued to follow her around the room.  
“When do you think Judah will get back?”  
Cole bobbed his shoulders in much the same way she’d seen Judah shrug.  
“I don’t know. Funeral arrangements can take a long time. And even with her acts at the end Rachel had a lot of friends.” He emphasized the word as his mouth took on a sneer, “Judah really knows how to pick them. Rachel knew how to have a good time.”  
“He told me that you were the one that sired her, so wouldn’t it be more you who had the ability to pick them?”  
Again he laughed and it took all her strength not to shiver at the sound.  
“Yes, but Judah is the one that sees the deeper potential. I only ever focus on the faces. He sees deeper. Like you, he saw your deep passion to thrive. To live. It’s quite intoxicating.”  
She was there, the door was within reach.  
“If Judah’s not here I’ll leave you to—.” The door was opening as she pulled it, then it slammed shut, jerking the knob out of her hand.   
Turning back she found Cole to be pressing his fist against the door as he leaned into her.  
“Now don’t go yet. I need comforting too. Like you mentioned, Rachel was my sire. The first sire I ever made. This is a sad time for me,” nothing in his voice conveyed that, as he insincerely clutched his free hand to his chest.   
She could hear her own pulse in her ears she pulled at the door but still he kept it closed with his weight.   
While her heart panicked, she remained cool, as she told him, “I know, but I don’t know you that well. You should wait for Judah. He’ll know how to comfort you properly.”  
“Yeah, but he can’t provide me with the kind of comfort I need.”  
His face moved closer as she noticed the animal dwelling in his eyes. And unlike Judah’s, she knew this one was not going to go away with a laugh.  
“I really have to get going.”  
He grabbed her shoulders, making her wince at the tightness of his hold.  
“What’s the rush? We have so much to discuss. Like the true identity of the golden key holder.”  
His sneer was gone, replaced by a cold calculating stare. She had tried to play it casual, to not give it away, but somehow he’d figure out that she knew the truth. Rachel was not the killer, he was.


	25. Chapter 25

Kyle pulled at the bindings keeping her tied to the bed. It only made the ropes hold her tighter as she winced at the constricting.  
“I don’t usually have to go to such measures,” stated Cole as he paced at the foot of the bed, “Usually my victims are more than willing to let me partake of them.”  
“But I bet you don’t tell them how much of them you are going to partake of.”  
He laughed darkly, “Yes, I suppose so. But by the time they realize I’m not going to stop they’ve already lost too much blood to fight. But I supposed you know most of that from the autopsy. So…” the bed creaked as he started to crawl up to her like some jungle cat. “What was it that gave me away?”  
She tried to kick at him but he only laughed as he grabbed her ankles, and then with a strength she couldn’t fight against, he held her legs down in place.  
Grimacing at the pain in his hold, she grunted, “The second victim had phenethylamine under her nails.”  
He laughed as he slid his hands along her legs, keeping them pressed down as he moved closer, “I’m not familiar with it.”  
“It’s found in peyote.”  
His face lit up with understanding, “Ah, yes. It was a holiday and I felt like indulging before my meal. I guess Judah’s story about the sweat lodge reminded you of my heritage.”  
She gritted her teeth as he moved in close enough to nuzzle her neck. Her body went rigid as she tried to pull back but there was nowhere to go. He laughed into her skin.  
“What was it with those women? Are you the one who is going rancid?”  
He laughed again as he leaned back to look her in the eyes, “Rancid? No. The story of the bloated vampire is just something we tell young initiates to keep them in line so they don’t gorge themselves and spoil the party for the rest of us. We say don’t eat too much, don’t focus so much on the mortality of those around you or you might become a rancid and then the council will have to put you down. But it’s just an urban legend, like big foot, or celibacy.”  
She tried again to kick at him as his hand moved up to clutch her neck. She only moved her leg an inch before he repositioned his body to hold her down with his legs.  
“Then why did you do it if not because of some insatiable hunger?”  
He licked her neck. She shuddered at the contact, “For the thrill, of course. For the simple joy of being able to do it and having no consequence.”  
“You’re sick.”  
He laughed, “You wouldn’t be the first to say that.”  
“Did Rachel say it before you killed her?”  
He sat back as he studied her for a moment, his eyes scanning her body like she was a barcode, “It was a shame about her. But I needed a scape goat. And I knew she was an easy mark. But then there was the problem of how to place all the blame on her and have none of it fall on me. That’s when I remembered how Judah had seen a friend die, self-inflicted stake to through the heart. A similar act with a suicide note would give me everything I needed to get off scot-free.”  
“But why her? Wasn’t there someone else?”  
He wagged his finger in front of her face, “No. She was the only one that was that close to me. Plus, I had actually been the one to have the copy made. After I lost my key the first time I was worried I might lose it again. After I got it back from your detective friend I had her make another just in case. But by then I’d completely forgotten about the stupid mirror trick within the key.” He let out a tiresome sigh, “That Ben was always too paranoid for his own good. And I guess it was my own sire who ended up biting me in the end.” He laughed at his joke.  
“Now,” he ran his fingers down her jawline as he hummed to himself, “Should I turn you? Let you experience the ecstasy of immortality while I keep you locked up in my pleasure dungeon?”  
“Is that what you call it?” she motioned with her eyes to his groin, “because it looks more like a cell of disappointment.”  
His hand was around her throat in an instant as she choked on her words.  
“Oh, you think you’re so clever. I do find it fascinating how you’re able to maintain that air of uncaring even as all that passion beats within your chest,” He gripped her neck tighter as ran his other hand over her chest, “You would make a fine vampire. Part of me wonders if you aren’t already one,” he turned her neck. She grunted against the movement.  
“Hmm, you do have those moles on her neck. Maybe in a past life, but not this time.”  
She could feel her windpipe straining as his grip tightened all the more. Her head was pounding and she was starting to see stars.  
“It’s a shame. Two losses within two days. I don’t know how Judah will bear it. And what about me? One sire dead and the other experiencing abject pain. Maybe another decade long trip to Europe will do the trick to cheer us up.”  
She pulled at the ropes to get her hands to his wrist but no matter how hard she pulled or how hard she hit his grip didn’t loosen.  
“Now how will I explain your death? Can’t really blame it on Rachel since she’s already dead. Suicide won’t work either. Can I convince him that God killed you in punishment for him not waiting?”  
He laughed at this. “Do you think that will work? Do you think he’ll believe that?”  
“No, I don’t think he will.”  
Breath rushed back into Kyle’s lungs as Cole released his hold. Even as she gasped for air she was more focused on moving her eyes to the door where Cole’s eyes were already fixed.  
“Judah, you’re here.” Cole looked back from him to Kyle, “It’s not what it looks like. Your girlfriend has some odd kinks. You really have a strange taste in women.”  
It was apparent that Judah wasn’t taking in any of Cole’s lies as he told him, “I know you’re the killer Cole.”  
“Killer. What killer?”  
“You framed Rachel.”  
“Why would you say that?”  
“The suicide note. Something about it seemed off and when I thought about it more I realized what it was. You got too cheesy near end, Cole. No matter how dark things got for Rachel, it would never bring her to a point where she’d admit her own faults and ask for forgiveness.”  
Cole groaned as he slapped his forehead, “You’re right. I’d forgotten just how terrible she was. In comparison to myself she was an angel.”  
Kyle gasped as he again wrapped his hand around her throat. “But unlike the both us, she’s the real deal. Huh?” Cole’s head tilted to the side as he looked back at Judah, “Too bad I have a terrible habit of breaking the things you care for. But don’t worry, I’ll find you a new play thing.”  
Breath returned again as Judah lunged across the room, knocking Cole back from her. She struggled to catch up in breathing as Judah and Cole wrestled on the bed before falling to the ground.  
“Judah!  
Pulling against the ropes she strained to see over the edge of the bed. Something was being hit hard against the floor. Bang. Bang. Bang. Then things were silent.  
“Judah!”  
A head popped up but it wasn’t the one she wanted to see.   
Cole sneered as he started to pull himself up, “Too bad. He was a lot weaker than I expected. Poor thing. Guess I’ll have to find a new sire to dote on. Do you want a go?”  
She spit at him. He turned away, growling as he wiped the phlegm off.  
“I’ll take that as a no.”  
Just as his fingers were brushing against her neck another body lunged up from the floor. Judah was on his sire again as the two men wrestled for dominance. Blood was dripping from the back of Judah’s head where Cole had smashed in his skull. In spite of the wound, Judah was soon the one on top as his hands gripped tightly around Cole’s neck. The man gasped even as he fought against the younger man, kicking at the air, as he tried to knock him off like a bronco.  
Judah was breathing heavy even as his knuckles went white from his tight grip. She could see his eyes going cloudy as Cole’s remained fine. If vampires couldn’t breathe then they couldn’t be choked.   
Kyle pulled harder against her bindings as she tried to get free before Judah’s blood loss got to him.   
“Judah! You need to change tactics!”  
She couldn’t tell if he’d heard her as his head bobbed slightly to the side. That was all Cole needed as he performed a jerk with his body and knocked Judah off. He was back up as he delivered a bone shattering punch to Judah’s jaw.  
Kyle’s hands were going numb from the rope’s cutting off her circulation but still she strained. Either she broke free and risked severing an artery or he killed her. No matter the outcome she was not giving up without a fight.  
Judah fell back, his eyes rolling back as his whole body tumbled off the bed.  
“Judah!”  
Cole laughed as he looked back at her with a triumphant sneer.  
“Looks like I’m the winner. Again.”


	26. Chapter 26

Just as the pain from her hands was starting to make her see spots there was a loud bang as Cole’s head flew back. From his forehead she saw red fly as a large hole appeared in the middle of his forehead. Following the shot back she found Henshaw standing in the doorway with his gun raised.  
“Sorry it took so long. I had my phone off.”  
She wanted to scream at him for his carelessness, but that was not her main concern, “Is he dead?”  
“That was a silver bullet. So, yeah.”  
“Good. Now check on Judah. Is he okay?”  
Henshaw walked over to the area where she’d seen Judah go down. Kneeling down he looked to touch something on the floor.  
“Does he have a pulse?”  
The officer frowned as he looked at her. “No.” Her heart stopped as she felt her body go limp. Then just when she was about to start sobbing Henshaw reminded her, “vampires don’t have pulses.”  
She would have lunged at him if not for he bindings keeping her back, “Then is he vampire alive or not?”  
Henshaw scratched his head, “He’s alive. But he’s lost a lot of blood, even for a vampire.”  
She felt her heart losing itself all over again, “Is it too late then? Is there nothing we can do?”  
Someone groaned, was it her heart, then she saw Judah’s bloodied face as he sat up. His hand was on the back of his head, pressing at the wound, as he used his other hand to rub at his jaw.  
“I just need some blood and I’ll be fine.”  
Kyle really had to maintain her cool while Henshaw worked at her ropes to get them undone.  
“Can you go any slower?”  
“Sorry, you just got them really tightly wound here.”  
Looking to Judah she asked, “Are you sure you’re going to be fine? That head wound looked like it cracked your skull.”  
He winced as he pressed at the injury, “Yeah, he did get me pretty good. But it will be fine.” At her worried look he gave her a curious expression, “Did I not mention the incredible healing ability? I guess after immortality the only real super power we have is our ability to heal most every wound.” He looked to Cole who was bleeding out on his bed, “Except for things like stakes to the heart and silver bullets to the head.”  
Once her hands were free she was off the bed and down on the floor with Judah as she inspected his wounds.  
“All you need is blood? Do you have any?”  
“I think I have a pack in the fridge.”  
Henshaw offered to go get it as Kyle let Judah lay back and rest his head on her lap while they waited.  
When she saw his eyes drooping she ordered him, “Don’t fall asleep. Even with your healing I can’t trust that sleeping with a concussion won’t cause some irreparable damage.”  
His smile was twitchy but comforting as he reached up to take her hand.  
“I’m sorry you had to go through all this.”  
“Hey, none of it was your fault.”  
“He was my sire.”  
“We can’t pick our families, but we can choose who we’ll become in spite of them. And I think you’re a pretty great guy in spite of who sired you.”  
“Well, good news and bad news.”  
Kyle frowned at Henshaw as he came into the room.  
“What?”  
“Bad news is your fridge is empty of blood.”  
Her eyes dropped to Judah who was looking pale, like how pale vampires usually looked in the movies. Her heart was pounding in her chest, barely able to maintain a steady beat as it panicked.  
“But the good news is you’ve got a fresh supply right here.”  
Her eyes bolted up to Henshaw as her heart thrilled with hope, “Where?”  
He pointed to her and Judah. She started to close her eyes to take a moment to regain her composure when what he was saying hit her. She opened her eyes to glare at him.  
“Will it be enough?”  
He shrugged, “Should be. I’ll go see if I can’t wrangle up somewhere just in case.”  
As he exited the room Kyle ground her teeth, “I hate that guy.”  
Looking down at Judah she found his eyes to be closed. She made him sit up as she had him face her.  
“Judah, I need you to stay awake. There’s blood for you but you need to stay awake in order to eat it.”  
His voice was dozy as he tried to focus his eyes on her, “Okay. I’ll try. Where is it?”  
She pointed to the spot on her neck with the moles, “Here. You’re going to have to drink me.”  
He shook his head, almost falling over from the movement, “No. I can’t. I don’t want to make you a blood bag.”  
“You’ve lost too much blood to be picky. And I’d rather be a meal than have you die. Now do it.”  
He looked like he was going to argue more but before she could order him again his mouth opened and she watched as she smooth canines became sharp points as they grew in length. Her heart leapt for a moment at the sight then it shivered as he leaned forward and bit in. Her whole body shivered at the sensation, relaxing into it as he began the process.  
It was unlike anything she’d experienced before and in the moment he bit her Kyle joined the living.


	27. epilogue

The warm air brushed her face as Kyle slid her sunglasses over her eyes and let out a disgruntled moan.  
“What’s wrong?” inquired her headrest.  
“You didn’t warn me my eyes were going to be this sensitive.”  
She heard Judah laugh as the sound made her frown soften. “Turks and Caicos is a little brighter than Seattle.”  
“Still, I feel like I’m going blind here.”  
He wrapped his arms around her as he pulled her closer. “We don’t have to stay out in the sun. We could go back to our room and wait for the night life to begin.”  
“And what would we do there in the meantime?”  
“I’m sure we’d find something,” the playfulness in his voice made her lift her eyes from his shoulder as she looked into his full on boyish grin.  
She swatted at his chest. “We have the whole honey moon ahead of us for that.”  
His shoulders bobbed, “You have any better suggestions?”  
She let out a deep sigh as she readjusted her sunglasses. Getting up, she felt his eyes on her as he watched her move away.  
“Where are you going?”  
She looked back at him and with a bored expression as she replied, “I guess if there’s nothing else to do…”  
He was up like a bolt as he raced towards her. Before they collided he scooped her up in his arms, not slowing for a moment as he carried her back to cabana.  
“Slow down, Judah, it’s not like we’re in a hurry.” She laughed, “We have all of eternity after all.”  
And she was ready for it.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, if you like this or one of my other stories and have the ability to, I have my own donation page. Any and all support is much appreciated.
> 
> https://www.buymeacoffee.com/WishaDream


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